Emperor of the Pirates: Arc 3 Part 2- Race to the Grand Line!
by Rukaio101
Summary: The Neptune Pirates, lead by their certifiably insane, dynamite obsessed Captain, aim to leave their mark on the New World. Currently, the crew have decided to take part in the Dead End Competition, a race to the Grand Line. However, they've got to beat the New Supernovas to get there! Now they must face ruthless pirates, sea monsters, jelly, magic bullets and... wait, jelly?
1. Prologue

_** Quick disclaimer, when this was written One Piece had reached Chapter 675. Since this takes place after the events of One Piece, I'm gonna make up a lot of story details which might not match up with what Oda writes in later chapters. So if, somehow, this story is still going on in a couple of years, don't complain if that stuff doesn't match up.**_

* * *

_Many years ago, there was a man named Gol D. Roger. King of the Pirates. The man who brought together a crew of legends and managed to do the impossible. On the day he was executed, he changed the world and the world entered the First Age of the Pirates._

_Several years later, his successor, Monkey D. Luffy set out on his journey to become the Second Pirate King, bringing together an even stronger crew and even surpassing the exploits of his predecessor. Those who saw his final epic battle with Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, at the Edges of the Earth, had the sight permanently ingrained into their mind. He became the first man to find Gol D. Roger's legendary treasure, the One Piece, almost toppling the World Government in the process. _

_Two Years later, and Monkey D. Luffy stood on an execution platform facing his end. The executioners standing over him had been given one simple instruction._

_'Under no circumstances let the Second Pirate King speak.'_

_However, Luffy's crew momentarily intervened, giving the pirate the chance to speak to the world._

_**Here are the last recorded words of Monkey D. Luffy**_

_**Shishishi! I bet you all want to know about One Piece, right?**_

_**That treasure was the most amazing thing I've ever found!**_

_**But it's too much for just me to take! It's still there! You're welcome to it!**_

_**But only if you think you can surpass me and Roger!**_

_The cheer that went up that day was even greater than the World Government feared. Long retired pirates leapt to their boats, with their children and their grandchildren, all in search of the elusive treasure and the chance to surpass the two legends. If Gol D. Roger started the Great Pirate Age, Monkey D. Luffy started the Greater Pirate Age. And the new pirates who rose that day quickly became legends. This story is about of one of the greatest of those pirates, Ushio D. Neptune, 'Emperor of the Pirates'. A name that made others shiver with fear and excitement and a crew that may have surpassed even Monkey D. Luffy's. But when he began his journey..._

* * *

Ushio D. Neptune looked at the pool of water slowly rising at his feet, and wondered how he'd gotten himself into this mess.

Okay, so when he'd made the small hole in the boat, in an attempt to juggle a pack of kitchen knives, he hadn't really done much to fix it. In fact, his plan at the time had been 'ignore it and hope it goes away'. Which hadn't really worked out. In his defence, at the time, the hole had been very small and how was he supposed to know that it'd slowly get bigger? Unfortunately, there was still quite a distance before he'd hit land and, considering the ship was already half-submerged, he had a feeling he wouldn't make it.

Suddenly, he spotted a small crate of explosives, bobbing up and down in his cabin. And he had a brilliant idea...


	2. Arc 1: Meeting of Fates

**Lindrome Island- Several Minutes Earlier**

"Drink up, me lads!" Karak 'King' Max, the mountain bandit chief, roared with laughter as he finished his drink. "After all, today's worth celebrating!"

"Yes, sir!" The bandits grinned, practically drowning in their own booze and vomit. "Here's to our chief and his new 8,000,000 Beri bounty!"

The bar that the bandits were celebrating in was practically deserted, although they didn't seem to care. Aside from the waitress, there was only one other customer, a young man nursing a drink alone in the corner. He wore a dark pair of sunglasses, which completely covered his eyes, and a lone flintlock pistol was hanging from his belt.

"Oi! Waitress!" Karak called. "Another round for me and my loyal band!"

"R-Right away, sir!" The waitress, a young girl, began to head towards the bar, when one of the bandits suddenly grabbed her arse.

"Don't be leavin' so soon darling." He crooned. "Why don't you stay and have a bit of fun with us?"

"G-Get off!" The waitress yelled.

"Don't be so cold." The bandit grinned. "I'll show you a good ti-"

*bang*

The gunshot reverberated throughout the bar. In a swift second, the young man in the corner had drawn his flintlock and, without even looking, shot the drunken bandit in the hand.

"Gwaaaaah!" The bandit screamed, holding his mangled fingers.

"You gents should know better." The young man smiled, getting to his feet. "That's no way to treat a lady."

"T-Tell?" The waitress gasped.

"Anna, head to the back." Tell advised. "This could get a bit messy."

"Don't do anything dangerous!" Anna yelled, ducking behind the bar. "And Dad'll kill you if you smash up the bar again!"

"I make no promises." Tell shrugged, cracking his knuckles. "Now, I think you gents have had enough to drink. Would you like to leave now of your own volition, or be carted out in an ambulance?"

"Someone's confident." Karak got to his feet, an angry smile on his face. "Me and my boys don't appreciate what you did to our comrade."

"So you're in charge of this band of drunkards?" Tell sighed. "Why don't we leave out the small fry and just fight man to man?"

"Hmm..." Karak pretended to think for a moment. Even without him, his gang outnumbered the guy 10 to 1. "Tempting offer kid, but I don't think you're ready to swim with the big fishes yet." Terra turned to leave. "He's all yours, boys. Squish that cockroach for me."

The bandits got to their feet, all wielding large weapons of some sorts. One of them had an axe twice the size of his own head.

"Fine, if that's how you're gonna play it." Tell sighed. "Let's go!"

Immediately, Tell sprang forward and flattened the bandit with the oversized axe, using a well-aimed kick to the face. As the bandit collapsed, he accidentally smacked one of his cohorts in the face with his axe, knocking them both to the ground.

"Come on then?" Tell turned to the remaining bandits, stepping back into a fighting pose. "Who's next?"

"You cocky-!" One of the bandits charged forward, wielding a tomahawk. "You'll regret messing with the King Ban- Gumph?"

In an impressive move, Tell jumped up and shoved his boot into the bandit's face. Then, using said bandit's face as a platform, Tell leapt up and grabbed onto the rafters, before propelling himself up, like a gymnast.

"Shoot him!" The remaining bandits drew their pistols and opened fire.

The bullets ripped through the wooden beams until, eventually, they collapsed, scattering dust and splinters everywhere. Tell managed to leap clear just in time. While in mid-air, he drew his pistol and, in a swift aim-fire-reload action, managed to shoot three bandits in the shoulder, before landing on a fourth.

He turned to the three remaining bandits and gave a sly smile.

"Seven down, three to go." He chuckled. "Who wants to die next?"

The three remaining bandits looked at the beaten bodies of their cohorts. And, naturally, ran for their lives.

"Where are you going, you cockroaches?" Karak roared after his fleeing men. "It's just one man!"

"Told you we should've skipped the small fry." Tell chuckled. "Now how do you want to do this? Fists or Pistols?"

Karak thought a moment.

"Alright, we'll leave." He agreed. "Anyone who can still walk, carry anyone who can't!"

The bandits begrudgingly picked up their fallen comrades and drudged out, growling at a cocky-looking Tell.

"How dull." Tell sighed, once the last bandit had left. "I was really looking forward to a fight with that guy."

"Hey Jackass, remember how I told you not to smash up the bar?" Anna groaned, emerging from her hiding place. "Dad's going to be furious!"

"It's not that bad!" Tell protested.

Anna simply pointed at the collapsed rafter beam.

"... Okay, I may have caused a _bit_ of damage." Tell admitted.

"Come on, sunglasses freak." Anna grabbed Tell by the ear and dragged him out. "We need to get out of here before Dad gets back."

"Not the ear, not the ear!"

Seconds after they'd left, a loud scream could be heard from inside the bar.

"Anna!" Anna's father, Callac yelled. "What happened in here? Was it that damn sunglasses freak again?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Anna and 'that damn sunglasses freak' had already sprinted out of town, to a small spot on the beach, where they usually hung out.

"Did you have to pull so hard?" Tell scowled. "My ear feels like it's going to come off."

"If Dad had caught you, he probably would've torn your ear off." Anna chuckled. "Thanks for helping me by the way."

"It's no trouble." Tell smiled. "I don't really like bandits anyway."

"And here was me thinking you were just being a gentlemen." Anna sniggered.

"Eh, my old Sensei was always telling that I had to be a perfect gentleman." Tell sighed. "I won't lie, he was an incredibly creepy guy. Especially whenever a woman turned up."

"Obviously, you take after your Sensei." Anna teased.

"Thanks for that..." Tell sighed. "He wasn't a bad Sensei though. I learnt a lot of the Black Leg fighting style from him."

"Yeah, you're really good at that." Anna nodded. "I wish I could fight that well. Hey, could you teach me a bit?"

"Nah, I'm not good enough for that." Tell shook his head. "I can teach you to shoot, though."

"How come you're always teaching yourself to shoot?" Anna asked. "You can just kick anyone who annoys you."

"I've always been better at shooting than at kicking." Tell shrugged. "It runs in my family. My father, my grandfather, my older brother, all sharpshooters. Heck, I only started learning Black Leg style so that I wouldn't injure my hands while fighting."

"Seems kinda like overkill to me." Anna sighed. "And if you're so obsessed with sharpshooting, then why do you always wear those goofy sunglasses? Doesn't that make it a lot harder to aim?"

"N-No!" Tell seemed kind of nervous. "I'm fine wearing them."

"I never see you without them..." Anna realised. "Can I take them off? I want to see you eyes!"

"No!" Tell sprang back several paces. "You can't!"

"Why not?" Anna sulked. "I'm sure you let my dad see them..."

"Your dad gave me this pair of sunglasses in the first place." Tell growled. "He... He saw my eyes the day he rescued me from that shipwreck, yet he still cared for me and nursed me back to health. I'll never be able to pay him back for that."

"So that's why you always stick around?" Anna gave a sigh, and sat down on the sandy beach. "Here was me thinking you were just hung about the bar because you liked me."

"I do like you." Tell sat down next to her. "Maybe I'd stick around anyway, just for you."

"No you wouldn't."

"...Yeah, you're right..." Tell admitted. "I've been thinking about leaving for a while now."

"I know." Anna nodded.

"You do?" Tell looked at her in surprise. "How?"

"I read your diary." Anna shrugged. "You know, your poetry is really lousy."

"Thanks for the tip..." Tell made a mental note to burn his diary.

"What do you think you'd do, if you left here?" Anna asked.

"Dunno." Tell admitted. "I don't like the idea of joining the marines... so maybe I'd become a pirate."

"I think you'd make a great pirate." Anna sniggered. "Now you just need some way to turn your sunglasses into an eyepatch."

"And there goes that idea..." Tell sighed. "Anyway, I can't just leave you and your dad here on your own. The bar's been suffering badly as it is."

"Yeah, I'm sure Dad considers your help invaluable." Anna teased. "What with you always breaking his stuff all the time."

"Technically, _I_ don't break your dad's stuff." Tell protested. "I just force other people to. By kicking them into it."

"I'd like to see you try that excuse on Dad." Anna laughed

Suddenly, something in the horizon caught her attention.

"What's that?"

"Huh?" Tell followed her gaze. In the distance, he could see a small boat bobbing up and down on the waves. "Oh, it's just a boat."

"It looks like something's wrong!" Anna gasped, getting to her feet. "I think it's capsizing!"

"So?" Tell shrugged. "They can just swim to shore. It's not that far."

It was then that the boat exploded.

* * *

"Get down!" Tell yelled, knocking Anna to the ground and covering her eyes from the fiery cinders that blew around the two.

Blazing shrapnel flew through the air, as the explosion scattered the splintered remains of the boat. A large chunk of wood narrowly missed Tell's head by a couple of centimetres. Once the worst of it was over, Tell helped Anna to her feet and they looked over the damage. The beach was covered in flaming scraps of wood.

"What the hell was that?" Tell exclaimed.

"I don't know." Anna muttered. "Hey, can you hear screaming?"

"Huh?" Tell perked his ears. For a few seconds, he thought she was hallucinating, but soon he could hear it too. A low, frantic scream. Which seemed to be getting louder...

"Gaaaaaaahh!" What seemed like a large, blue, human-sized cannonball slammed into the beach, almost hitting Tell.

"Whaahh!" Tell fell back in shock, while Anna, not so easily surprised, jumped over him to take a closer look.

"W-What is it?" Tell cautiously moved closer.

"It's a man!" Anna gasped. "And I think he's a pirate!"

* * *

"You sir, are the king of the moment killers." Tell sighed, lying down next to the unconscious pirate.

Anna had run off to get a doctor and some marines, leaving Tell alone on the beach with the pirate. The pirate was a young man, around the same age as Tell. His hair was jet black, although whether that was because it had been scorched from the explosion, Tell couldn't tell **(Heheh)**. He wore simple clothes, aside from a long, blue, impressive-looking cloak wrapped around him. The thing that had tipped Anna off that he was a pirate, was the small black flag with a skull-and-crossbones on it, which he was holding onto desperately. It was a pretty simple design. A skull with black hair sat in front of the ends of a large, golden trident. Considering the similarity between the skull's hair and the man's hair, Tell had correctly guessed that it belonged to the man.

"I mean, the conversation had gotten a bit side-tracked with that whole 'pirate' thing, but I'm sure that, had you not interfered, it really would've gone somewhere, you know?" Tell gave a sigh. "Ah, who am I kidding? It was never going to go anywhere between us. I should just give up on her and-"

Tell realised he was talking about his love life to an unconscious pirate. And he hated himself for it.

"What the hell am I doing?" He groaned to himself. "I should be talking to Anna about this, not this guy! Maybe I should-"

"Gyaaahhh!" The pirate sprung back to life, terrifying Tell.

"Whaahh!"

"What are you screaming about?" The pirate asked.

"What the hell kind of question is that?" Tell yelled. "I'm screaming because you just sprang up yelling like a madman!"

"Did I?" The pirate scratched his head. "Weird. Anyway, do you want to join a pirate crew?"

...

For the third time in his life, Tell was genuinely speechless.

"N-No!" He finally managed to splutter. "Who asks something like that?"

"I do." The pirate shrugged. "To be fair, it usually works. Well, not for me personally, but I've heard it works for other people. By the way, I'm Neptune D. Ushio. Or Ushio. Or Get-off-this-island! I've had all three. What's your name?"

"Er..." Tell wasn't sure how to answer to this awkward introduction. "Jericho Tell... Listen, are you okay?"

"Okay?" Ushio perked up. "I'm fantastic! Brilliant! Couldn't be better! Okay, my ears are ringing, I'm horribly burnt and I think there's some shrapnel lodged in my back, but that's not too bad. I'm sure I'll be fine if I get to my feet and walk around a bit." He promptly jumped to his feet, took a couple of steps and fell over.

"Are you okay?" Tell asked.

"Mpphphph" Ushio mumbled, his face stuck in the sand.

"What?"

"I said 'probably'." Ushio repeated. "By the way, you have lovely sand here. Tastes mildly of cinnamon."

"Uh... thanks..." Tell decided to ask the obvious question. "Did you... hit your head on anything?"

"I was just in a massive explosion." Ushio pointed out. "I think I got hit **everywhere. **I don't even know how I'm still alive."

"Good point." Tell shrugged. "What was with that explosion anyway?"

"Well, I was capsizing..." Ushio explained. "And I noticed there was a large amount of gunpowder on my ship. So I figured the best way to make it to the shore was to ignite the gunpowder and hope that the resulting explosion carried me to shore."

"..." Tell stood there with his jaw open. How was this person still alive? "Wha...? Why would you do something so stupid?"

"In retrospect, it was kind of a stupid idea." Ushio admitted. "But it did work!"

"You're insane."

"So I've been told." Ushio shrugged. "I've never really let it get me down. What's so special about being 'sane' anyway?"

"..." Tell was speechless for the fourth time in his life. "And you're a pirate? I'm surprised you even have the ability to form comprehensible sentences!"

"I may be potentially insane, but I'm not an idiot." Ushio huffed. "Anyway, how did you know I was a pirate?"

"You're holding a pirate flag." Tell pointed out.

"Huh." Ushio looked at the flag in his hand. "So I am. Okay you got me, I'm a pirate. A pirate **captain**, to be exact. To be more exact, the pirate captain who's gonna become Emperor of the Pirates!"

"Don't you mean King of the Pirates?" Tell corrected. "Like Gold Roger and Monkey D. Luffy?"

"Nah, that's dull." Ushio sulked. "Why would I want to do something that two other people have already managed? I'm gonna become Emperor of the Pirates instead!"

"What's the difference?" Tell felt the need to ask.

"Dunno." Ushio admitted. "Emperor just sounds cooler. Now, I need get back to my crew, before they begin to worry!"

"You... have a crew?" Tell asked, understandably sceptical. "People actually willingly follow you?"

"Well, I found this cool fish a few weeks ago." Ushio shrugged. "I call him Skippy. He swam off yesterday though."

"Okay..." Tell cautiously picked up a long, thick piece of wood. "I'm going to knock you unconscious now. When you wake up you'll probably be in some sort of mental ward, but..."

"Tell!" A nearby citizen ran into view, a look of panic on his face.

"What is it now?" Tell sighed.

"Callac's bar!" The citizen gasped. "It's on fire! We need help now!"

"Anna!" Tell realised, dropping the piece of wood and dashing towards town.

Soon Tell was out of sight, leaving Ushio standing alone on the beach.

"Boy is he impatient." Ushio sighed. "But he seems like a nice enough guy to join my crew. I think I'll ask him again..."

With that, he began running into town after Tell...


	3. Arc 1: The World's Fiercest Mango

_**Chapter 2: The Bandits Strike Back! The World's Fiercest Mango?!**_

To say that Callac's bar was on fire would've been an understatement. It was more like that the remains of the bar had been dumped on a very large bonfire. Towers of flame shot out from the windows. The intense heat meant you couldn't even get close. Nearby residents were trying to put out the fire with buckets, but they all realised it was a useless effort, like trying to push back the tide with a pebble.

Callac was kneeling on the ground sobbing, when Tell arrived.

"W-What happened?!" Tell panted.

"You!" Callac turned, with a mix of anger and misery on his face.

He charged over to the surprised Tell and punched him in the face. Hard. Tell fell back in shock, clutching a bloody nose.

"This is all your fault!" Callac screamed. "If you hadn't attacked those bandits, then Anna... Oh God, Anna...!" He collapsed to the ground again, wailing.

"W-What?!" Tell had no idea what was going on.

"While you were gone, the bandits came back." Callac explained, occasionally pausing to sob. "They were angry that you weren't here, so... they set my bar alight and... and they took Anna!"

"Oh God..." All the colour drained from Tell's face. "I-I-"

"This is all your fault!" One of the crowd yelled. "Callac told you plenty of times to leave!"

"I-"

"Yeah, you're always attacking dangerous people!" Another chimed in. "Why can't you learn not to mess with these people?!"

"I-"

"Maybe if we beat him, the bandits will let the girl go!" Another suggested.

There was a murmur of agreement. Tell could hear the words 'demon' and 'monster' being muttered. Suddenly, a small stone shot out of the crowd and struck Tell in the head. Not that he seemed to react. A trickle of blood dribbled down his forehead, onto his sunglasses. There was silence. Finally, one of the crowd got fed up and charged at Tell with a long, oaken staff.

"Get out of our town you demon!" He screamed, swinging his staff towards Tell's head. Tell closed his eyes and braced himself.

*thwack*

Much to Tell's surprise, the pain didn't come. Instead, he opened his eyes to see Ushio standing over him. The pirate had caught the end of the staff with his hand, which was bleeding slightly.

"W-Who the hell are you?" The man shivered.

"I-I recognise him!" One of the crowd piped up. "That's Ushio D. Neptune! H-H-He's a pirate!"

"A P-P-P-Pirate!" The crowd scattered, screaming in panic. Callac was dragged away by the terrified hordes, leaving Tell and Ushio standing alone in front of the burning wreckage of the once proud bar.

Neither spoke to each other and simply stood in silence, not even looking at each other.

"What are you doing here?" Tell eventually spoke.

"Stopping the townspeople from lynching you." Ushio shrugged. "What did it look like?"

"Maybe you should let them lynch me." Tell sighed. "I've only made things worse since I got here. Callac should've just left me to die in that shipwreck. Then none of this would've happened."

"Probably." Ushio admitted. "But what the hell does that have to do with anything?"

"Huh?!"

"There's nothing you can do to change the past." Ushio looked into the distance, with a calm, serious look on his face. "No amount of moping or crying will change anything. What you can do is stand up, leave your past behind and challenge your future head on. You can't stop those pirates from kidnapping your friend, but you can chase after them and rescue her with your own two hands."

…

"You're right." Tell sighed, getting to his feet. "It's a black day when I'm shown the error of my ways by a lunatic moron."

"You won't be talking that way once you're a member of my crew." Ushio grinned. "Now we'd better get going."

"We?"

"Yup. I'm coming too. You couldn't keep me away." Ushio realised he was still holding onto the wooden staff that he'd blocked. He gave it a few practise swings. "Bit light, but it'll have to d-"

Tell bashed the young pirate on the back of his head with his pistol, knocking him unconscious.

"Sorry pal." Tell sighed. "But I'm not dragging you into this. Maybe if I make it out of this, I'll join your crew, but I'm not letting you get killed because of my mistake."

With that, Tell ran out of town, leaving the unconscious Ushio behind...

* * *

It didn't take Tell long to find the bandits lair, since bandits aren't particularly known for their sense of stealth. The lair itself was a large fortress, built into a mountain. Since bandits aren't well known for their building skills either, Tell correctly guessed that they'd probably just found the fortress and took up residence.

There were a couple of bandits hanging around the entrance when Tell arrived. He drew his gun and prepared to deal with them but, to his surprise, they just stepped aside to let him through, smiling sinisterly. He cautiously opened the large, steel doors of the castle to find himself in what seemed like a large, circular arena. Scores of bandits stood in the sidelines cheering as he slowly entered. At the opposite end of the arena, he could see Anna. The poor girl had been tied up and was now dangling over... what seemed like a gigantic fish tank with a large rock in the centre. A large rock with a mango on top of it. Anna didn't seem hurt, but she was unconscious.

"Well well well..." Karak grinned, from his enormous throne at the very back of the arena. "The little cockroach arrives."

"I really don't have time for cliché villain speeches." Tell sighed, drawing his flintlock and pointing it at the bandit. "Let Anna go now, or I'll kill you and your gang of thugs."

"How impatient." Karak sighed. "Very well. Release the girl!"

"Aye aye, sir!" The bandits grinned, releasing the rope that Anna was dangling from. She fell with a splash into the giant fish tank.

It was then that Tell spotted the large 'rock' beginning to move...

"Do you like our little pet?" Karak chuckled.

"W-What the hell is that?!" Tell stuttered. The rock began to unfurl itself to reveal a large, crocodile-like creature, with a mango growing out of its head.

"It's a Mangogator." Karak explained. "It's a distant cousin of Alabasta's Bananagator and just as ferocious. We caught this one when it was just a little pup and raised it ourselves. It wasn't easy, let me tell you. Mangogators love the taste of human flesh... especially young girls..."

"You bastard!" Tell growled, pointing his gun at Karak. "Call off your pet or I'll blow you full of holes!"

"You know, there's a much simpler way to save the girl." Karak grinned. "If you destroy the fishtank with your flashy gun skills, the Mangogator will be drawn towards the more... live prey and my crew could rescue the girl. Of course, that'd also involve you being bai-"

Tell didn't hesitate, immediately shooting off three shots into the fish tank. The glass cracked and began to wobble, but it didn't break. The mangogator, having just noticed the fresh prey that had been dropped into its tank, immediately charged towards Anna, jaws wide open. Seconds before the mangogator swallowed the young girl, Tell fired a fourth shot, finally shattering the glass. A torrent of water splashed onto the arena floor, dragging the mangogator away from its intended prey. The mangogator, enraged at this attack, turned towards Tell and gave a large roar. Then, with a surprising burst of speed, it leapt at Tell.

"Damn!" Tell dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding the giant mangogator's charge. He fired a couple of rounds into its skin, but they didn't even scratch its large scales. "What's with this thing?! My bullets are useless!"

"Having fun?!" Karak chuckled. "I think he likes you!"

"Bastard..." Tell growled. "You said you'd rescue Anna!"

"I said my crew _could_ rescue the girl." Karak smiled. "I didn't say we would."

"Why you-!" Tell was interrupted by the mangogator flicking its enormous tail at him. He dodged it and fired a round into the tail, but it just bounced off. It was clear that Tell couldn't pierce its hide with a simple bullet.

_'Dammit!' _Tell thought to himself. _'What's with this thing's hide! Bullets won't even scratch it!'_

Tell narrowly avoided another swipe from the tail as the mangogator dislodged itself from the wall it had crashed into.

_'One thing's for sure, I need to kill this thing and fast. Maybe my eyes-' _Tell shook that thought out of his head immediately. _'No. It's too big for my eyes to be of any use here. Besides, if I used... 'them' I'd have to leave the the island.'_

Meanwhile, the mangogator turned, preparing for another charge. Tell was about to dodge again, but he noticed something odd about the direction it was facing. It wasn't directly facing him, more like...

Tell turned to see the unconscious body of Anna still lying on the floor. And in the path of the charging mangogator...

_'Oh crap.'_

"No no no no no no!" Tell dashed towards her, at the same time the mangogator began its charge. Tell reached her, only to turn and see several tons of teeth and scales about to slam into them. Without thinking, he threw Anna out of the way, seconds before the mangogator smashed him into the wall.

"Tehahaha!" Karak laughed. "The cockroach got squashed!"

The mangogator backed off, to see what damage it had done. The wall behind Tell had been practically shattered but to everyone's surprise, he was still standing, blood running down his chest.

"I'm... not going down... that easily..." Tell panted. "Damn... overgrown lizard..."

"He's still standing!" Karak gasped. "Tehahaha! You're stupid for a cockroach! What do you think you can do against my mangogator in that state?"

The mangogator, surprised its prey was still standing, prepared itself for another charge.

"I don't know... how I can beat that thing..." Tell admitted, preparing himself. "But I made a promise that I'd rescue her... to a good man... And I don't intend to let him down..."

"Pfft, how stupid!" Karak snorted. "You won't be able to rescue anyone! The girl will die! Whoever this man is, you've failed him!"

The mangogator gave a loud roar and charged at Tell. He tried to jump out of the way, but his body wouldn't listen and he was transfixed to the spot.

_'Maybe this is it...'_ He thought to himself, as the creature got closer and closer. _'All my skills and training and this is how I'm going to die? Without even fulfilling my promise?! I... I...'_

"**Neptune Sledgehammer!"**

Suddenly, what seemed like a large, blue hammer smashed into the side of the mangogator's head, knocking it off balance and sending it stumbling onto its back.

"Wha-?!" Karak gasped in shock.

The hammer burst like a large balloon when it hit, sending its wielder bouncing backwards towards Tell. And, to his surprise, it was a very familiar figure...

"Y-You?!" Tell spluttered.

"Hey Tell!" Ushio D. Neptune grinned, swinging a wooden staff over his shoulder. "Tell me more about this amazing man who you made that promise to!"


	4. Arc 1: The Water Magnet Man

**Chapter 3**

"Wha-What are you doing here?!" Tell gasped.

"I told you." Ushio shrugged. "You couldn't keep me away from something like this."

"B-But I knocked you out!"

"Well, to be honest..." Ushio scratched the back of his head, nervously. "You're really not as strong as you think you are. The only reason I pretended to be unconscious is so you wouldn't hit me again. Anyway, I want to hear more about this amazing guy who so inspired you to-"

"It wasn't you."

"Huh?"

"I wasn't talking about you." Tell explained. "The good man I was talking about was Anna's father."

"Oh..." Ushio looked around, awkwardly. "'Cause I kinda had this whole dramatic entrance thing planned out. I mean, I've been waiting in the sidelines for about 10 minutes for the best moment to arrive and-"

"Oi!" Karak yelled, infuriated. "Don't ignore me, you cockroach! Who the hell do you think you are, barging in here like that?!"

"Oh sorry!" Ushio grinned. "I forgot to introduce myself! The name's Ushio D. Neptune, Captain of the Neptune Pirates and I'm here to kick the crap out of you!"

"Cocky little-!" Karak's eye twitched with anger. "Men, shoot those damn cockroaches!"

Several bandits leapt forward and aimed their rifles, only to collapse backwards with shoulder wounds.

Tell lowered his smoking gun.

"I didn't want it to come to this." He sighed. "But I guess I'm gonna need your help to deal with this lot."

"Really?" Ushio sounded uninterested. "Well I don't need your help, so I guess you can just rescue the girl, get out of here and I'll deal with this lot."

"You think you can deal with all this lot on your own?"

"Yeah." Ushio nodded. "Why? Don't you?"

"Um... Let's see, there's about 30... 40..." Tell began counting the bandits scurrying about in the sidelines. "45... Actually yeah, I reckon I could take that many."

"Good." Ushio grinned. "Then you can take care of that lot while I finish off big, scaly and peachy over here."

The mangogator, having recovered from Ushio's blow, got to its feet and roared at the two.

"Don't you mean mangoey?" Tell corrected, ignoring the giant creature.

"Huh?"

"Well, it's a mangogator, not a peachgator." Tell pointed out.

"True..." Ushio admitted. "But is mangoey even a word?"

"I have no idea." Tell sighed. "I don't know why I'm even talking about this. I think I must've banged my head when I got slammed into that wall."

"I know the feeling."

"Yeah, but you blew up your own boat, so you kinda had that one coming."

"Stop ignoring me, you cockroaches!" Karak yelled. "Mangogator! Smash them!"

The mangogator did as it was told and charged, not through any loyalty to Karak, but because it was _really_ angry. Both Tell and Ushio dived out of the way, letting the creature slam into the wall behind them.

"You sure you can handle this thing?" Tell asked.

"Don't worry about me." Ushio grinned, swinging his staff in the air. "I know this thing's weak point!"

With that, he leapt into the air, jumping even higher than Tell could manage.

"Whoa..." Tell gasped.

Suddenly, he felt something moving at his feet. He looked down to see the water on the floor, from the fish tank, slowly moving into the air, towards the tip of Ushio's staff.

"What the-?!"

"A devil fruit user?!" Karak gasped.

The water gathered around Ushio's staff, making a hammer like shape.

"Hey Mangoey!" Ushio called to the mangogator, while grinning wildly. "I'd brace yourself if I were you!"

Tell didn't know if huge crocodillian monsters could feel fear, but the mangogator looked pretty damn terrified to him...

"**Neptune Sledgehammer!"**

Ushio brought the giant water hammer down onto the mangogator's head, smashing it into the ground and squishing the mango on the top of its head. Like his first attack, Ushio's water hammer burst on impact and he bounced back onto the floor.

"What the hell was that?!" Tell asked, stunned.

"Oh, didn't I mention?" Ushio grinned. "I ate the Magnet Magnet fruit: Model Water. I'm a water magnet man!" **(See below for explanation of powers) **

"...What the heck's a water magnet?" Tell asked.

"I'll explain later." Ushio shrugged. "First we need to take care of- Whoa!"

He jumped just in time to avoid the mangogator's large tail swinging towards him. The mangogator had somehow recovered from its brief moment of fear. And the large water hammer to the head.

"That guy's still moving?" Tell growled. "I thought you said you knew its weak point?"

"Yeah!" Ushio nodded. "It's the mango isn't it?"

…

"You're a complete moron..." Tell facepalmed.

"Think about it!" Ushio explained. "What would a mango be doing on the head of a giant crocodile, if it wasn't a weak point!"

"Tehahaha! You foolish cockroaches!" Karak, who felt he was being badly ignored, laughed at the two. "The only reason it has a mango on its head is because it has a mango plant growing inside of it. Squishing the mango isn't going to do any good!"

"How do you know so much about mangos?" Ushio questioned. "And what's with your obsession with cockroaches?"

"Not now, Ushio!" Tell interrupted. "I've got an idea of how to take this thing down, but I need to get onto its back. Can you keep it distracted."

"Sure." Ushio agreed, readying his staff. "But on one condition."

"What?"

"You have to call me Captain." Ushio grinned.

"I never said I was going to join your crew!" Tell protested.

"You said you would if we got out of this alive." Ushio pointed out.

"I said _maybe_ I'd join your crew." Tell corrected. "Besides, you let me get slammed into a wall just so you could make a dramatic entrance."

"Pfft, you survived." Ushio shrugged. "If you didn't, I wouldn't have asked you to join my crew."

"I don't know whether I should feel complimented or annoyed." Tell sighed. "Probably annoyed. Look, you can't just threaten me into joining your crew."

"That sounds like a challenge to me." Ushio sulked. "If I can't threaten you, then maybe I can- Gaah!"

Unsurprisingly, the mangogator didn't seem to care that the two were in the middle of a conversation and charged at them, jaws outstretched.

"Get out of the way!" Ushio shouted, pushing Tell to the side.

"Ushio, no!" Tell yelled. But it was too late.

The mangogator smashed into Ushio swallowing him with a single bite.

"Holy..." Tell couldn't believe it. Had his only hope of killing the beast been eaten so easily? "Ushio, are you still alive?"

"What... the hell... kinda... question... is that?!" A faint voice could be heard from inside the mangogator's mouth. Ushio had managed to jam his staff between the roof and base of its mouth and was now hanging on for dear life, his legs halfway down its throat. "Now go... do whatever you were going to do... quickly..."

"Right." Tell nodded.

Taking a quick run-up, he leapt into the air, landing on the mangogator's back. The mangogator, meanwhile, was preoccupied with the morsel stuck down its throat and had taken to eating chunks of rock, in order to knock him down.

"Ow! Gn-!" Ushio winced as the rock fragments struck him, but he managed to keep his grip. He considered using his devil fruit, but giving the mangogator a nice mouthful of water wasn't exactly going to help him much. "Hurry up Tell!"

"I'm trying!" Tell grimaced, dragging himself further and further up the mangogator's back.

Despite not having noticed him, the mangogator was still thrashing around a lot, making it hard for Tell to keep his grip. Eventually he made it to the creature's head and grabbed onto the squished remains of the mango. For whatever reason, _this_ drew the mangogator's attention. It immediately began roaring and charging around, trying to throw Tell off. He clung on desperately, but he knew he couldn't keep hold for much longer.

"Ushio, if you could do something right now, I'd appreciate it!" Tell screamed. "I can't hold on for much longer!"

"Okay, I can buy you a few seconds." Ushio sighed, knowing what he had to do. "But you owe me a lot for this!"

With that he prepared to use his powers. The water still left on the floor began to gather and shot towards him, knocking his grip loose and sending him plummeting down the creature's throat. The sudden torrent of water being forced down its throat surprised the mangogator, giving Tell the chance to get his balance and rip the mango out of the mangogator's skin. He then drew his flintlock and shoved into the hole.

"I hope this works..." He prayed, before firing several shots.

The mangogator paused for a second before it began to thrash around, in painful death throes. Tell managed to leap clear before the creature finally collapsed. Dead.

"Can't believe that worked." Tell muttered momentarily, before running towards the creature's mouth. "Ushio?! Are you okay?!"

There was no answer.

"Ushio?!" Tell pushed the deceased mangogator's jaw open. However, all he could find was Ushio's staff. "Ushio?!"

"Mmh... Grmph... Hmmph..." Suddenly Tell could hear groaning from inside the creature's throat.

"Ushio!" Tell grinned, shoving himself further down to get a better look. Eventually, he could see a small hand sticking out. "Hang on! I'll get you out!"

He grabbed hold and began to tug. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then, slowly, the limp body of Ushio D. Neptune slid out, drenched in a mixture of blood, flesh and digestive juices.

"I'm not gonna lie..." He groaned, wiping the worst of the blood from his cloak. "That was probably the 2nd most disgusting thing I've ever done... And its insides didn't even taste like mangos..."

"I'm really tempted to ask what the most disgusting thing was..." Tell sighed, helping him to his feet. "Or why you thought it'd taste like mangos. Thanks for the help, though."

"Pleasure was all mine..." Ushio winced, pulling a particularly large piece of flesh from his back. "You'd better be joining my crew after this..."

"I'll think about it."

"Hah!" Ushio grinned. "You didn't outright refuse! I'm getting closer!"

"Oi oi oi!" Karak yelled. "Haven't forgotten about us, have you?!"

Karak and his bandits had all grabbed their rifles and were pointing them at the two.

"Just because you killed the mangogator, doesn't mean you're safe, you mega cockroaches!" Karak laughed. "Now you'll face the true terror of the King Bandits!"

"Hey, Ushio." Tell sighed. "I'll make a deal with you."

"Huh?"

"If you can beat more of these bandits than I can, then I'll join your crew."

"Really?!" Ushio grinned. "I knew you would come around eventually!"

"I haven't joined you yet." Tell cracked his knuckles. "And I don't intend to lose."

"Stop ignoring us!" Karak growled. "King Bandits, open fire! Kill them! Kill them all!"

* * *

**A few minutes later**

"I-Impossible!" Karak stuttered. "How could the King Bandits be defeated so easily by a pair of giant, measily cockroaches?!"

Both Ushio and Tell stood in front of him, surrounded by beaten and unconscious bandits.

"So how many did you get, Tell?" Ushio asked, wiping the blood off his staff.

"26" Tell answered. "No, wait... 27."

"Dammit!" Ushio swore. "I got 27 too."

"I guess we're gonna need a tiebreaker." Tell shrugged. "And there's only one bandit left..."

The two turned towards Karak.

"W-Wait..." Karak panicked, trying to scramble out of his seat. "We can talk about this...! How would you like to be in my mountain bandit crew? You could be officers?! Or lieutenants?! How about co-chiefs?! Noooooooo...!"

*Thwack*

* * *

"So you're really leaving?" Anna asked.

"Yup." Tell nodded, carrying another crate onto the small boat in the harbour. "Ushio won the bet, after all."

"It's weird." Anna sighed. "I know I was talking about how you'd eventually leave, this morning, but I never thought you'd actually do it."

"I'm as surprised as you are." Tell laughed. "And I certainly didn't think I'd end up joining that insane bastard's crew."

"Oi, Mr Mate!" Ushio yelled from the ship. "We're gonna be setting sail, so hurry up!"

"Since when did he get so bossy..." Tell muttered under his breath. "Anyway, it was nice of your father to give us this boat. Are you sure he'll be able to afford it, after what happened to the bar?"

"Sure." Anna nodded. "We've still got plenty of money left over from Karak's bounty. By the way, when the marines arrested him, he seemed to be gibbering about cockroaches. Do you have any idea what that was about?"

"Nope." Tell shrugged. "Anyway, I guess this is goodbye."

"Yeah..."

"Listen Anna... before I go, I want to..." Tell's face began to turn red and he turned away embarrassed. "Well... Um..."

"Yes?" Anna waited on bated breath.

"I... Er..." Tell's face got more and more red. "I was just thinking... as a goodbye present... Um..."

"Don't worry." Anna smiled, gently holding Tell's red face. "I know what you mean."

Transfixed in each others eyes, the two slowly moved closer, their lips quivering, when...  
"Hey, are you two lovebirds finished yet?" Ushio interrupted, grinning.

"Ushio?!" Tell spluttered, pulling his head away from Anna. "What the-?! Why are you-?!"

"Got bored waiting around." Ushio shrugged. "Decided to spy on the two of you."

"You little-!"

"It's alright Tell." Anna snickered. "I'll just save it until you become a great pirate."

"Is that a promise?"

"Yep."

"Aw, how cute." Ushio grinned. "That's much more romantic than a simple throwaway kiss!"

"Don't think you're getting out of this that easily." Tell growled. "I'm gonna beat the crap out of you once we're alone."

"I get the feeling that wasn't a joke..."

"It's a shame that no-one else turned up to see you off." Anna sighed, looking around the practically deserted harbour. "I would've thought that Dad, at least, would've come."

"It's fine." Tell smiled, weakly. "Most of the townspeople think I'm a demon, anyway."

"Besides, it's better for us pirates to make our escape secretly, with no-one around." Ushio nodded. "Seems way more dramatic that way."

...

"What escape?"

Tell shoved the last crate onto the ship and gave a sigh.

"That's the last of them." He sighed. "I guess it's time to go."

"Wait!" A voice suddenly shouted.

To his surprise, Tell could see Callac entering the harbour, flanked by what looked like most of the town.

"Dad!" Anna cried, in surprise.

"Boss Callac?!" Tell was equally surprised.

"Some guy?!" Ushio attempted to act surprised and earned a quick punch from Tell, for his troubles.

"Didn't think we were going to let you go without a goodbye, you damn sunglasses wearing freak?!" Callac grinned at Tell. "We just had to wait for our present to arrive."

"Present?"

"Here." Callac presented Tell with a small wooden box. "We used the rest of the reward money to buy you this."

Tell opened the box to find a small, impressive looking flintlock pistol inside.

"It's the latest Leone model." Callac explained. "They say it's one of, if not _the _best model in the North Blue. And it holds six shots, without the need to reload. I won't lie, it cost a lot and we had to fish around for some extra change, but we reckoned it was worth it."

"Boss..." Tell tried, but he couldn't help the tears rolling down his cheek.

"Don't ruin this with tears!" Callac grinned, giving him a friendly cuff around the head. "I'm just glad you can't smash up my bar anymore!"

"Oi Tell!" Ushio yelled. "Time to go."

"Okay." Tell smiled, leaping onboard the small ship.

A couple of villagers cut the ropes tethering the ship to the port and it slowly began to drift away... Very slowly...

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Ushio grumbled. "It'll take us all day just to leave the island, at this rate."

"Well, it's only a small vessel." Tell shrugged. "It's not likely to go very fast."

"I guess..." Ushio had a sudden idea. "Hey, do we have any dynamite on board?"

"We're not blowing up the ship."

"Spoilsport." Ushio got to his feet. "I guess I'll have to try something else."

"What are you doing?" Tell asked, naturally wary.

"Calling the other member of my crew." Ushio explained, banging his staff on the bottom of the boat's floor.

"... I thought you didn't have any crew members."

"No, remember I told you about him!" Ushio reminded him. "His name was Skippy!"

"... You mean the fish?" Tell groaned. "Just when I thought you'd regained some form of sanity, you... Hey, is the ship shaking?"

For some reason, the small boat had begun shaking violently, the water bubbling beside it

"That'll be him." Ushio grinned.

Beneath the boat, a large fish-like head emerged, parting the oceans before it. It had dark blue scales, with black gills running down the side of its face. It raised its long neck into the sky, lifting the boat higher and higher, until it stopped, letting out a terrible roar at the same time, which shook the tiny fishing boat and the waves around it..

"Is that... a Sea King?!" Tell gasped at the sight.

"Nope, that's Skippy." Ushio explained. "Not making fun of me any more, are you?!"

"I'd give it until tomorrow."

"Fair enough." Ushio shrugged. "Now adventure ho!"

The giant Sea King gave another roar and began dragging the fishing boat out of the harbour, to the amazement of everyone watching. At the very top, Ushio D. Neptune stood, eager to begin his next adventure...

…

…

"We're still going too slow!" Ushio grumbled. "I can still see the island!"

"You managed to get a Sea King to tow this ship." Tell sighed. "I wouldn't complain."

"I guess..." Ushio thought a moment. "Hey, you know that dynamite...?"

"No."

* * *

From the dock, Anna and her father watched the two men bickering.

"Are you sure they'll be okay?" Anna asked, with more than a hint of worry in her voice.

"They'll be fine." Callac grinned. "They're men, after all."

"Mr Callac!" A man ran through the crowd, panting heavily.

"What is it?"

"I just found this." The man panted, handing Callac a folded scrap of paper. "I knew he was a pirate, but this...!"

Callac unfurled the paper and took a look at the contents. It was a simple wanted poster, but the picture inside was none other than...

* * *

**Wanted: Ushio D. Neptune of the Neptune Pirates**

"**The Mad Emperor"**

**Bounty: 20,000,000**

**Charges: Piracy**

**Sinking of two Marine Battleships**

**Multiple assaults on Marines**

**Destruction of public property**

**Unlicensed use of explosives**

**Use of said explosives on Marines**

**28 reported cases of Dine N' Dash**

* * *

"That sounds like him, alright." Anna sighed.

"They're calling him one of North Blue's Up-and-Coming Rookies! The New Supernovas!" The man continued. "They say he could be real trouble if he makes it to the Grand Line."

"So the will of D enters a third generation..." Callac muttered to himself. "Tell may have gotten himself in deeper than I thought..."

"Huh?"

"Nothing." Callac smiled. "I was just talking to myself. Now let's go have a party to celebrate! Drinks are on me!"

* * *

**Magnet Magnet Fruit- Model Water: Explanation**

**This fruit allows the user to magnetise bodies of water to attract or repel to the users, or any objects the user is holding. For example, Ushio's Neptune Sledgehammer involves magnetising water to the tip of his staff, where it becomes compressed and forms a natural hammer-like shape. On the other hand, Ushio's inhuman jumping ability comes from him repelling his own body from the water. The larger the body of water, the weaker the magnetic charge that can be applied, so the user can't magnetise an entire ocean. It also can't magnetise objects that are part water, like blood. This devil fruit shares the standard devil fruit weaknesses.**


	5. Arc 2: Falling From The Sky

**Emperor of the Pirates: Arc 2- The Swordswoman**

_**Chapter 4: A new destination! The boy who fell from the sky?!**_

"Are we there yet?" Ushio asked for about the 50th time that day.

"No." Tell answered, fiddling with his gun.

"Oh..." Ushio paused a moment. "Are we there yet now?"

"No."

"Oh..." Ushio came to a sudden realisation. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"Dunno." Tell shrugged.

"Oh..." Ushio put two and two together. "So are we lost?"

"Yup." Tell nodded.

"Oh..."

The two had been floating around for a few days now. Skippy had abandoned them soon after they had left Tell's home. Not that Tell could blame him. These last few days had made him wonder even more how Ushio had survived so long. He'd almost drowned twice, been eaten three times and very nearly blew up the ship. Five times. In comparison, the fact that he'd forgotten the maps seemed a minor mishap.

"Hey Tell?" Ushio asked. "What are you doing to your gun?"

"Modifying it." Tell explained, without looking away from his work. "I'm trying to copy the design of the Leone flintlock Boss Callac gave me, so that I can fire six shots with this gun too."

"Oh..." Ushio didn't understand most of that, but it sounded impressive. "Is it difficult to do?"

"Very." Tell nodded. "But I know this gun better than anyone, so I should be able to do it."

"How do you know that the maker doesn't know it better?" Ushio asked.

"Because I am the maker." Tell answered. "I built this gun completely from scratch. There, done!"

He snapped the gun's casing shut and placed it into its holster.

"Huh, that's kinda cool." Ushio shrugged. "Do you reckon I could build my own weapon?"

"No." Tell answered bluntly.

"That was a little harsh..." Ushio grumbled. "Anyway, what did you call it?"

"Huh?"

"Your gun, I mean. You have to have called it something."

"Er... My gun..."

"You mean you haven't even given it a name yet?!" Ushio gasped, giving Tell a pitying look. "How dull."

"Well, what did you call your staff?" Tell sighed.

"Excalibur."

…

"That seems a bit over-the-top, don't you think?" Tell pointed out. "Besides, wasn't Excalibur a sword?"

"Details, details." Ushio scoffed. "Anyway, you haven't even named your guns yet, so you're can't talk!"

"Why do we even need to name our weapons?" Tell asked.

"It makes them seem more badass." Ushio shrugged. "Swordsman name their swords and, as a result, they seem more awesome. That's also why I name my attacks."

"Fine, whatever will make you happy." Tell shrugged. "I'll call my handmade gun Eastwood and my new gun Wayne. Happy? I'm probably never going to use those names."

"... Damn..." Ushio sighed. "Those are actually kinda awesome. I'm gonna have to come up with a new name for my staff, so I don't get shown up."

"You do that." Tell shrugged, before leaning back. "I'm gonna get some sleep. Wake me if you decide to go swimming again."

"To be fair, that was one time. And I thought I'd accidentally set the boat on fire."

"That reminds me, stay away from the dynamite!" Tell remembered.

"Fine." Ushio sulked. "Spoilsport..."

"I'd rather be a spoilsport than a dead man." Tell nustled down to sleep. Then, suddenly, he heard something. "Hey, can you hear screaming?"

"No." Ushio shook his head. "I can't hear anything."

"It's very faint." Tell motioned for Ushio to be quiet. "Yeah, that's definitely screaming. Are you sure you can't hear it?"

Ushio listened harder. At first, nothing, but then he began to hear it. A quiet, low-pitched scream.

"Yeah, I hear it." He nodded. "But where's it coming from?"

The two looked around. There was nothing to be seen, on the vast ocean in front of them. Not a ship, not an island, nothing. Meanwhile, the screaming was slowly getting louder.

"I can't see anything." Tell scratched his head. "Is it some kind of fish?"

"I've never heard anything like it, while I've been out at sea." Ushio answered, continuing to look around.

"Come to think about it, this reminds me of how we met." Tell reminisced. "I was just minding my own business and you came falling out the sky like a..."

Ushio and Tell quickly came to the same conclusion and looked up. In the sky, they could see a small figure, dropping towards them. Fast.

"Well, that's that mystery solved." Ushio grinned. "Wonder what he's doing up there."

"I don't know what's weirder." Tell sighed. "The guy dropping out of the sky. You not being surprised that there's a guy dropping out of the sky, or me not being surprised that there's a guy dropping out of the sky."

"Probably... the first one." Ushio thought a moment. "Hey, I think he's falling this way."

"I think you're right." Tell tried to judge the angle that the figure was falling at. "Yeah, he's probably gonna hit us."

"Oh..." Ushio had a thought. "Shouldn't we move?"

"Yes. Yes we should." Tell nodded. "Get the oars."

"Er..." Ushio gave a nervous look. "I kinda... dropped the oars."

"What?!"

"Well I was trying to catch this fish and-" "You threw our oars overboard!" Tell had to resist the urge to strangle Ushio. "How are we supposed to get out of the way now?!"

The screaming was getting really loud now as the figure plummeted closer and closer to the boat.

"Well, there's always dynamite?"

"I hate you."

The figure struck the boat at an incredible speed, smashing it into pieces and sending its occupants flying into the ocean...

* * *

"Keep rowing, you bilgerats!" Marine Captain Chitty Chitty yelled to his subordinates. "We have to get this prisoner to HQ immediately! We've been given this order by Vice Admiral Minos himself! There is no room for slacking!"

"Sir!" One of the marines saluted. "There's an odd amount of debris in the water currently! It looks like there was a shipwreck nearby! Should we search for survivors?"

"We don't have time searching for sunk sailors!" Chitty Chitty growled. "We have been ordered to get the prisoner to base ASAP! And if we impress the Vice Admiral, then maybe I... I mean, we could get a promotion! Besides, the ship may have been sunk by a pirate crew and we don't want to be ambushed. Now tell the crew to keep moving and ignore any distress signals!"

"Sir, yes sir!" The marine saluted, before leaving. Immediately, a second marine dashed in.

"Captain!" He saluted. "There's something happening on deck!"

"What is it?"

"A young man dragged himself onboard, along with two others!" The marine explained. "It appears they're victims of the shipwreck!"

* * *

Tell finally managed to cough the last of the water out of his lungs.

After the ship had been destroyed, Tell immediately grabbed the unconscious Ushio, to stop him from sinking. After tossing his body onto a particularly large piece of flotsam, he ducked down again to see what supplies he could rescue. It was then that he saw the figure who had struck their ship. It was a unconscious young boy, about 11 or 12, with bright blond hair and dressed in odd clothing. Tell was surprised to see two tiny wings on his back, however, as one floated off, he quickly realised that they were just plastic. The boy was also sinking fast. Unnaturally fast...

_'A Devil Fruit User?!'_ Tell thought to himself.

Realising that the boy would probably drown if he didn't help, Tell gave a sigh and grabbed him, pulling him up to the surface. After finding another large piece of flotsam to dump him on, Tell tried to figure out what to do next. There was no chance he'd be able to swim them to land. It was then that he spotted the speck of a marine ship nearby...

He began swimming over. Once the marines spotted him, they immediately helped him get Ushio and the boy out of the water, before dragging him out. While he was coughing up the last of the seawater that he'd accidentally swallowed, the marines 'relieved' him of his pistols. A thin, middle aged marine walked over to inspect the group. Judging my the stripes on his shoulders, Tell guessed he was a captain of some sort.

"Hmph, a couple of water rats, eh?" Chitty Chitty scoffed. "Tell me, what are you doing on my boat?"

"So-Sorry about this." Tell apologised. "We had a slight accident on our ship and-"

"An accident?" Chitty Chitty interrupted. "So you weren't attacked by pirates?"

"Um... no."

"That's a relief." Chitty Chitty wiped his brow. "Okay then, throw them overboard."

Two marines immediately grabbed Tell by the arms and began dragging him to the side.

"What?!" Tell roared, trying to break loose. "Why?!"

"We're currently in the middle of an important mission." Chitty Chitty sighed. "We don't have time to look after castaway. If you have any problems, then you can tell them to the Marine HQ on Verate Island. Provided you can swim well! Chihahahaha!"

* * *

"Once again I'd like to thank you for your generosity!" Chitty Chitty smiled politely, with two black eyes and a badly swollen face. "We really appreciate you giving us this lifeboat!"

The Captain was currently sat upon a pile of beaten and unconscious marines, all stuffed into a tiny lifeboat.

"You're welcome." Tell smiled, booting the lifeboat into the ocean.

Tell got a large amount of amusement from watching the incredibly furious Marine captain desperately paddling while trying to wake his crew.

"What a bunch of weaklings." He muttered, before turning to see how Ushio and the boy were. Both seemed to be breathing fine, but they were still unconscious. What really unsettled Tell was how uninjured the boy seemed to be. You'd expect that plummeting into a boat from several miles in the air, would cause some bruising, or injury, but he hadn't found anything, except a few minor scratches. He was also incredibly skinny, like he'd been starved for a while.

"Errgh..." Ushio finally regained consciousness, holding his head in pain. "What happened...? You didn't let me at the dynamite, did you?!"

"No." Tell sighed. "I'd never let you at the dynamite."

"Fair enough." Ushio suddenly checked his pockets. He gave a sigh of relief, when he spotted his pirate flag tucked away in one of them. It was then that he became aware of his surroundings. "So... where are we?"

"Marine ship." Tell shrugged.

"Oh, okay." Ushio didn't feel the need to ask further. Tell looked kinda pissed at the moment. "So who's he?" He pointed at the unconscious boy.

"The human cannonball."

"Huh?"

"The guy who hit our boat." Tell explained in more detail. "Anyway, come look at this. He doesn't have a bruise on him, even after hitting our ship."

"Really?" Ushio shuffled over for a closer look. "Hey, you're right! He doesn- Gnaah!"

Suddenly the young boy sprung up yelling, accidentally headbutting Tell's face.

"Oww!" Tell fell back clutching a bloody nose.

"W-Where am I?" The boy asked, looking around. He then laid eyes on Tell's bloody nose and began to turn green. "Ooh... blood..."

He then passed out again.

"Well..." Ushio scratched his head. "That was interesting."

* * *

"Ahahaha! Sorry about that, you guys!" The boy, Yura, laughed, munching on a loaf of bread that Tell had found. "I just get a little woozy whenever I see blood."

"Oh, that's just fine..." Tell could barely keep the rage out of his voice. "By the way, I don't suppose you could tell us**how the hell you ended up plummeting into our ship?!**"

"Oh, that was your ship?!" Yura realised. "Ahahaha! Sorry about that! It was the only thing nearby that I could land on, without drowning!"

"What about the ocean next to the boat?" Tell suggested. "Then we could've recued you."

Yura's face immediately turned to an 'I never thought of that!' expression.

Tell drew his gun.

"You can't shoot him yet!" Ushio protested, holding his angry first-mate back. "I want to know how he got up there in the first place!"

"Ahahaha! You guys are so funny!" Yura laughed. "Anyway, I only ended up there because I was doing some DIY work on my home cloud, and accidentally cut myself loose. I drifted for days, before the cloud shrunk too much for me to stay on."

"Home... cloud?"

"Yeah." Yura nodded. "I used to live in the clouds."

"Of course you did..." Tell picked up a large plank of wood. "I'm going to knock you unconscious now. When you wake up you'll probably be in some sort of mental ward... provided we don't just throw you overboard."

Tell swung the plank at Yura's head but, much to his surprise, it snapped in half as soon as it hit him.

"I'd be careful with that plank!" Yura rubbed the back of his head, as if he'd been hit very lightly. "You could really hurt someone if you keep swinging it about! Ahahaha!"

"Wow, he's really weird!" Ushio realised. "Let's ask him to join our crew!"

"No!" Tell spluttered.

"Why not?"

"Y-You can't just go around asking random people to join our crew!" Tell explained. "Especially people like him!"

"Hey, are you guys in a pirate crew?" Yura asked.

"Yep!" Ushio grinned. "We're the Neptune Pirates! Want to join our crew?"

"Sure!" Yura grinned back. "I've always wanted to join a pirate crew!"

"I hate my life..." Tell sighed.

* * *

After Tell had calmed down enough not to try and throw Yura overboard, the crew decided to explore the inside of the marine ship, in search of anything useful. They quickly located what looked like a storeroom, which had several large crates inside.

"Hey, there are explosives in here!" Ushio grinned, opening one of the crates.

"That's all we need..." Tell groaned, opening another smaller box. Inside was a short katana. Tell wasn't an expert in swords, but it looked very well made. Oddly, however, there was also a sword hilt with no blade, inside the crate.

"Ooh pretty!" Ushio looked over Tell's shoulder to admire the katana. "Can I have it?"

"No." Tell snapped the crate shut. "I trust you with swords about as much as I'd trust you with explosives."

"Spoilsport..."

"Hey Yura!" Tell yelled over to the boy, who was looking at a particularly large crate. "Find anything useful in there?"

"Nope." Yura shrugged. "There's just a girl in here."

"Oh, okay then."

…

…

…

"Wait, what?!" Tell and Ushio dashed over to take a look.

Inside the large crate, there was a young blue-haired girl, bound and gagged. She took a quick look at the crew before giving a slight whimper and passing out.

"What the hell have we gotten ourselves into this time?" Tell wondered.

"Hey, is t-that blood on her face?" Yura began turning green again. "I don't feel so good..."

"Do you reckon she'd want to join a pirate crew?" Ushio asked.

"No."

* * *

**Verate Island**

"We have to thank you once again for rescuing us, Captain Stacean, sir!" Captain Chitty Chitty smiled, politely. "I don't know how much longer we could've lasted in that tiny lifeboat!"

"..." Captain Stacean, a huge, bulking man who towered over Chitty Chitty, even while sitting down, simply sat there in silence.

"A-Anyway..." Chitty Chitty was unnerved by Stacean, but he attempted not to show it. "I hope you've thought about my proposition!"

"..." Stacean finally began to speak. "You want me to find and recapture this prisoner of yours, then hand her over to you so you can deliver her to Marine HQ?"

"Y-Yes!" Chitty Chitty nodded furiously. "I'll be certain to put a good word in for you. We could both get a promotion for this!"

"Find her yourself." Stacean gave a tired sigh. "I'm a busy man, Chitty Chitty. Upholding justice in a town like this is very taxing."

"I'm sure it is!" Chitty Chitty smiled, shuffling his feet nervously. "But the problem is... the pirates who freed her... um... they're kind of strong..."

"Kind of strong?" Stacean raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well..." Chitty Chitty's voice had dropped to something of a nervous whisper. "My crew were kinda beaten up by one of them."

"Single handedly?"

"Y-Yes." Chitty Chitty admitted. "But I'm sure with your strength, you can- Grmph?!"

In a swift movement, Stacean had grabbed Chitty Chitty's head, with one of his massive hands. He slowly lifted the struggling Captain into the air.

"What a pity." Stacean sighed, as Chitty Chitty tried to break free. "I was willing to let you and your crew sail through, but I can't just ignore such blatant weakness."

"Grrrmph! Grttmph!" Chitty Chitty screamed, as Stacean began to squeeze his head.

"I have to uphold justice in this town." Stacean growled. "And to do that, I must be strong! For justice is strength and strength is justice! And in my justice, I have no room or use for weaklings who cannot even handle a single pirate!"

Chitty Chitty looked on in horror as Stacean's hand began to change and shift into a large, pincer-like claw.

"Goodbye Captain Chitty Chitty." Stacean gave an unsettling smile. "Remember that you died in the service of justice."

There was a sickening crack as Stacean crushed Chitty Chitty's skull. Chitty Chitty's corpse twitched for a couple of seconds, before Stacean tossed the body aside.

"Marine!" He called to outside his room.

Immediately a marine marched into the room. He paused briefly at the sight of Chitty Chitty's broken body, before saluting smartly.

"Your orders, sir?!"

"Where is Chitty Chitty's crew currently being held?" Stacean asked, sitting back down with a sigh.

"In the medical bay, sir!" The marine answered.

"Have them all shot and dumped into the bay." Stacean ordered. "Then erase all sign that they were here."

"Understood!" The marine saluted. "Is that all, sir?!"

"No..." Stacean remembered. "Enforce the special 'fugitive' curfew in the town, and gather the three Pillars of Justice. We have a escaped prisoner to catch."

"Understood sir!"The marine saluted, before dashing out of the room.

Stacean sat in silence for a few minute, with only the silent corpse of Chitty Chitty for company. Eventually, he gave a sigh and unravelled the sketch that Chitty Chitty had given him. It was of a young, blue-haired girl...

"I don't care who you are..." He growled at the drawing. "But you can't escape justice! Clakakakaka!


	6. Arc 2: Explore Verate Town

_**Chapter 5: Beware Captain Stacean! The mysterious swordswoman, Tsurugi!**_

"So who do you reckon she is?" Ushio asked, leaning over the unconscious body of the girl.

After they'd found her, they'd untied her and brought her up on deck, so she could get some fresh air. She seemed a couple of years younger than Ushio and Tell, and was dressed in an old, white t-shirt and a pair of shorts. Her blue hair was short, and it looked like she'd cut it herself, messily.

"I don't know." Tell answered, deep in thought. "I suppose we'll find out when she wakes up. Yura, have you got that water yet?"

"Coming!" Yura replied, dragging a large bucket of water towards them. "This should wake her."

He tipped the water into the girl's face and she awoke with a start.

"W-What the-?!" She gasped.

"Hey, you're awake!" Ushio grinned, holding out a hand to help her get up. "Nice to meet you! I'm- Huh?"

The girl suddenly grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, so he couldn't move without it hurting. She then placed her other arm around his neck.

"Nobody move!" She yelled.

"This is why we shouldn't help random people..." Tell sighed.

"Where's my sword?!" The girl asked. "Bring it here now!"

"You mean this?" Tell showed her the katana he'd found earlier.

The girl looked at it for a short moment.

"What about the other one?" She yelled.

"What other one?" Tell asked. "The only other thing I found was this sword hilt."

"Yes, that!" The girl nodded, a sound of relief in her voice. "Place both of those on the floor and kick them over to me."

"Fair enough." Tell did as she ordered.

However, when the girl bent to pick her weapons up, her grip loosened slightly. Ushio took the opportunity to magnetise the water, that Yura had thrown on the floor, to his fist and attempted to punch her. The girl saw the blow coming just in time and jumped back, drawing her katana.

"Stay back!" She growled.

"Hmph." Tell snorted confidently, drawing his guns. "You really think you can beat the three of us?"

"Three of us?" Yura looked nervous. "Can you leave me out of this? I'm not a massive fan of the whole 'fighting' thing..."

The girl looked surprised for a moment.

"By the way..." She asked. "Who are you guys?"

…

"You're asking us that now?!"

* * *

"So you're definitely not Marines?" The girl asked, a suspicious look still on her face.

"No." Tell sighed. "I already beat up the marines who were on this ship."

"You beat up marines?!" Yura gasped. "Isn't that illegal?!"

"Well, they were going to throw you overboard." Tell pointed out. "An idea I'm very much sympathetic to..."

"Then I apologise for attacking you." The girl sheathed her sword. "Please drop me off at the next island.

"Oi, I want to ask you some questions first." Tell growled. "Like why we found you tied up on a marine ship."

"That's my business." The girl growled back. "You don't need to know anything about me."

"Why you-" Tell managed to restrain his anger. "Do we at least get to know your name?"

The girl thought a moment.

"Alright then." She agreed. "You can call me Tsurugi."

"Tsurugi, huh?" Ushio piped in. "That's a weird name. Do you want to join a pirate crew?"

"No."

"I tried." Ushio shrugged at Tell.

"Told you that wouldn't work." Tell sighed.

"It worked on Yura!"

"That's because Yura's about as insane as you." Tell pointed out. "I don't know what he's going to do for the crew. He seems useless at pretty much everything."

"Ahahaha! That's so true!" Yura laughed. "Back home I was always called Useless Yura! Ahahaha!"

"That's not something to laugh about..."

"How much further until we reach the island?" Tsurugi asked, obviously irritated by the crew's antics.

"Dunno." Tell shrugged. "We're lost."

"What?!"

"Hey guys?" Yura interrupted, before Tsurugi attempted to cut the lot of them to pieces. "There's land that way."

"Huh?" Tell ran over to take a look, but he couldn't see any land anywhere. "How do you know that?"

"Look at the clouds." Yura pointed up. "That specific shape could only be formed by a coastal breeze. Since the clouds are moving towards us, there must be land nearby, in the opposite direction."

"..." Tell wasn't quite sure what to say. "How do you know so much about clouds?"

"I li-"

"You lived in the clouds, I forgot." Tell sighed. "I might as well trust you for now. Turn the ship in that direction!"

"Surely I should be giving the orders!" Ushio sulked. "Who's the Captain, after all?"

"Me." Tell decided. "I'm the only sensible member of this crew, so from now on, we're the Tell Pirates!"

…

"That was a joke, right?"

* * *

Much to everyone's surprise, Yura's cloud reading was accurate and soon they arrived at Verate Island. Immediately, Tsurugi packed up her things and prepared to depart.

"Eh, you're really going to go?" Ushio sulked. "Are you sure you don't want to join my crew?"

"Quite sure." Tsurugi scoffed. "Besides, I have important stuff I need to do."

"Like what?"

"Important stuff." Tsurugi repeated forcefully.

"Like what?"

"I'm not going to tell you!"

"Why?"

"Because..." Tsurugi thought a moment. "Because I don't trust you!"

"Why?"

"If I were you, I'd just join the crew." Tell sighed. "He never gives up once he gets like this."

"...I'll think about it." Tsurugi then hopped off the ship and headed into the town.

"Yes!" Ushio celebrated. "She didn't say no!"

"That was only to get you out of her hair." Tell pointed out. "Anyway, does something seem odd to you?"

"Yeah..." Ushio nodded. "How did she get her hair blue? Does she use a dye or something?"

"Not that!" Tell sighed. "I mean, there's something odd about this town. Doesn't it seem a bit quiet, for a bustling seaside town?"

Ushio listened. Come to think about it, he couldn't hear anything either. Nothing but the sounds of the sea.

"Yeah, kinda." Ushio admitted. "Maybe they're all asleep?"

"Seems a bit early." Tell pointed out. "The sun hasn't even set yet."

"I guess..." Ushio gave a sudden grin. "I smell a mystery!"

"I smell disaster..." Tell groaned

"I smell catpee." Yura helpfully piped in.

* * *

"You're really gonna stay behind, Tell?" Ushio asked.

"Yup." Tell nodded. "Someone needs to look after the ship. Besides, when you two eventually screw things up, at least I'll be able to escape early."

"Thanks for the support..."

"Ahahahaha! This is going to be so much fun!" Yura laughed. "I've never been to a large Blue Sea town before!"

"A what?" Ushio began to head into the town, closely followed by Yura.

"A Blue Sea town." Yura repeated. "That's what Skypieans call towns down here."

"What are Skypieans?" Ushio asked

"People who live in the sky." Yura answered. "Like me."

"Oh... that makes sense." Ushio lied. "What's it like in the sky?"

"Uh... it's very high up." Yura answered.

"Really?" Ushio grinned. "That sounds awesome. We need to go there some day!"

"Yeah..." A flash of discomfort crossed Yura's face.

"Hey!" A voice suddenly shouted out. "What are you doing?!"

"Huh?" The two looked around for the speaker.

"In here!" A door opened and a young girl poked her head out. "Quickly!"

Ushio and Yura looked at each other before shrugging and heading into the house.

"What were you two doing out there?" The girl asked, closing the door quietly behind her. "Don't you know it's past the curfew?"

"Curfew?"

"Oh..." The girl came to a sudden realisation. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Nope!" Ushio grinned. "We're here completely by chance."

"Ahahaha! That's right!" Yura laughed. "Completely by chance!"

"Okay..." The girl gave the two an odd look. "So you two don't have a permit?"

"Nope."

"This isn't good!" The girl muttered to herself. "Sheltering curfew breakers is one thing, but illegal immigrants?! There's no way I can get out of this one!"

"Well you're the one who told us to come here." Ushio pointed out. "Besides, what's so bad about sheltering us?"

"You really don't know anything about this place?"

"No, not really." Ushio shrugged. "I'm not even sure where we are."

"Then you have really bad luck..." The girl sighed. "This is probably the worse place for you to have floated by chance..."

* * *

Tell was awoken from his nap by the sound of screaming. He immediately got to his feet and looked over the side of the ship, to see a young woman being assaulted by two... marines?

* * *

"Why is this place so bad?" Ushio asked

"Here, the marines have the power to do anything they want." The girl, Aisha, explained. "The Captain in charge of this town, Captain Stacean is a ruthless maniac who kills anyone who disobeys his rules, even small ones like breaking curfew. His marines share the same view."

* * *

"You broke curfew, lady!" The first marine laughed. "You know what that means!"

"Please, no!" The woman screamed, tears in her eyes. "I'll do anything you want!"

"We know!" The other one chuckled. "And after that we get to kill you! It's what you get for breaking the law!"

A sudden gunshot rang out and the first marine collapsed to the ground, screaming, with a bullet wound in his leg.

"Hey bastards!" Tell yelled spinning his still-smoking gun around his fingers. "That's no way to treat a woman!"

"Why you...!" The other marine went for his gun, but Tell was faster and he shot him in the shoulder.

"Are you okay, maam?" Tell asked, running over to the terrified woman. "Honestly, what kind of marine would attack a defenceless woman like that?"

He gave one of the wounded marines a sharp kick. Little did he notice the woman pick up a small length of steel piping...

* * *

"If this guys is such a maniac, then why don't you just beat him up?" Ushio asked.

"We-We tried." Aisha looked to the ground, sadness in her eyes. "A few weeks ago, some townspeople attempted a rebellion. T-They were all killed. Captain Stacean is incredibly strong, and he has his elite fighters, the three Pillars of Justice, on his side. M-My father and older brother were among the rebellion." Aisha let out a slight sob. "Nowadays, people will do about anything to stay in Stacean's good books..."

* * *

Tell heard the pipe being swung towards his head, but he couldn't react in time to stop it. The woman smashed him over the head with it and then there was only darkness...

* * *

"*sniff* That's so sad!" Yura sobbed, tears running down his cheek.

"Hey, why are you crying so much?" Aisha wondered. "It was my family who were killed..."

"That settles it." Ushio growled, grabbing his staff and heading for the front door.

"Where are you going?" Aisha asked.

"I'm going to beat the crap out of this Captain Stacean guy!" Ushio's face was a look of pure fury.

"You can't go!" Aisha grabbed him around the waist in an attempt to drag him back. "He'll slaughter you! He's eaten the devil fruit!"

"I don't care!" Ushio tried to escape Aisha's grasp. "I'm not letting him get away with something like that!"

"Please!" Aisha sobbed. "If you get caught I... I'll be punished too!"

This stopped Ushio.

"Alright." He agreed. "What do you want us to do?"

"Leave!" Aisha said, firmly. "That way none of us will be hurt. I've survived until now. I can keep on surviving..."

Almost on cue, a loud knocking could be heard at the door.

"Open up!" A voice yelled. "This is the marines!"

* * *

"Urgh..." Tell slowly came to, to discover he was trapped in a large, dungeon-like room. He'd been tied up, and his pistols confiscated. And in front of him...

"So you're finally awake..." Captain Stacean growled. In his hand was Chitty Chitty's sketch of Tsurugi. "Now tell me where this girl is and I'll kill you quickly!"


	7. Arc 2: The Three Pillars of Justice

_**Chapter 6: Tsurugi returns! The Three Pillars of Justice arrive!**_

When Terry the Marine knocked on Aisha's door, the last thing he expected to happen was for it to be smashed into his face, propelled by a large torrent of water. He was sent flying to the ground, while Ushio prepared to deal with the other three marines using his water hammer.

"Your friend is a devil fruit user too!" Aisha gasped, as Yura escorted her out of the back door.

"Yep!" Yura nodded. "Now we need to get back to our ship! Tell's a strong fighter! He'll take care of us!"

"Okay." Aisha nodded.

"Hold it right there!" A voice sounded behind them.

The two turned to see a marine pointing a gun at them.

"You're under arrest!" He yelled.

"Aisha, go ahead." Yura ordered, covering her from the gun, using his own body.

"But-!"

"I said go!" Yura yelled. "You'll be safe when you get to the ship! I can handle things here!"

"F-Fine!" Aisha sprinted away.

"I said stop!" The marine fired his gun at Aisha, but Yura leapt in front of the bullet and collapsed to the ground.

"Annoying little-!" The marine aimed his gun again, but Aisha was out of range. "Now I've lost her. Ah well, I suppose one dead criminal should please the boss."

"Shame I'm not dead yet!" Yura grinned, suddenly leaping to his feet and grabbing the marine's gun barrel.

"Wha-What the?" The marine was so surprised that he collapsed to the floor. "But I shot you at close range!"

"Looking for this?" Yura opened up one of his hands to reveal a bullet inside.

"Y-You caught it?" The marine spluttered.

"Yup." Yura grinned. However, he then noticed that his hand was bleeding. "Blood... Uh oh... I feel woozy..."

He turned green and stumbled around a bit. The marine, seeing his chance, drew a combat knife and leapt at the boy... only to be quickly dispatched by a water hammer smashing him over the head.

"Where's Aisha?" Ushio asked.

"Blood..." Yura was still green.

"Snap out of it!" Ushio gave him a sharp thwack with the non-wet end of his staff.

"Oh, Aisha ran off back to the ship." Yura explained, still a little green.

"Good." Ushio nodded. "She'll be safe there. Which is more than I can say for us..."

Several marine patrols suddenly rounded the corner and charged at the duo.

"Is now a bad time to tell you I hate violence?" Yura whimpered.

"Yup." Ushio readied his water hammer. "Don't worry. In a few minutes, these guys'll hate it too..."

* * *

Aisha ignored the loud gunshot behind her and kept running. Eventually, she reached the harbour where Ushio and Yura had left their ship. But a nasty shock awaited her there...

Dozens of marines were stationed around the ship, guarding it. It only took a couple of seconds for one to spot her.

"There!" A marine yelled. "That must be the girl we're after, there!"

"Are you sure?" Another wondered. "The Captain said she had blue hair, or something."

"Eh, she probably dyed it or something." The first marine shrugged. "Who seriously has natural blue hair? Either way, she's breaking curfew, so let's bring her in."

Aisha tried to run back the other way, but a couple of marines blocked her path. She let out a whimper. Would she be caught and killed here?

"Now then, little girl..." One of the marines grinned, moving out towards her. "You're gonna come quietly or-"

"**Single Sword Style: Swan Dance!"**

Suddenly, something cut through the marines with lightning fast speed. At first, nothing happened, but then all the marines slowly collapsed, blood seeping from their sword wounds.

"W-Who-?" Aisha fell to the ground in shock.

In front of her, Tsurugi sheathed her sword and scowled.

"I guess those Neptune Pirate idiots aren't back yet..."

* * *

One of the idiots in question, Tell, was currently attempting to recover from a nasty headache. And the scary-looking psychopath in front of him wasn't helping...

"Don't make me repeat myself." Stacean growled. "Where is the girl?"

"Dunno." Tell gave a defiant grin.

Stacean kicked him in the stomach and he fell back coughing.

"Don't act dumb!" Stacean bellowed. "We know you stole the marine ship she was on, and we didn't find her in the ship! Where is she?"

"I said I don't know." Tell shrugged. "She ran off after we hit port. She could be anywhere by now."

"So she's in my town..." Stacean realised. Then, with lightning fast speed, he grabbed Tell around the head with his massive hands. "If I know that, then there's no reason I should keep you alive, right?"

He began to squeeze, as Tell desperately attempted to escape his grasp. His strength was incredible and Tell couldn't even hope to break free. Seconds before Tell's skull was crushed, Stacean threw him to the side, and he crashed into a wall.

"We're going to hunt the girl down." Stacean growled to the panting Tell. "And if we find you're lying, you'll wish your death was as simple and painless as that."

"Sir!" A marine burst into the room. "There's a large commotion near the port! We believe the girl is involved. The Three Pillars of Justice are already on their way!"

"What?" Stacean could barely contain his anger. "Who dares to make trouble in my town! Don't they know that attacking me is equal to attacking justice itself!"

"Your orders, sir!" The marine saluted.

"Tell the men that I'm heading down personally to deal with the attackers." Stacean growled, heading out the door. "Oh, and take that scum down the the cells where he can rot."

"Understood, sir!" The marine snapped to attention.

He picked up the bound Tell and began dragging him away. However, much to Tell's surprise, instead of dragging him to some dingy, dark prison, he instead took him to a small side door, leading outside. There he undid Tell's bonds and passed him his two pistols.

"Okay, you're free now." The marine whispered. "Now get your ship and get off this island."

"Thanks." Tell nodded in gratitude. "But what about you?"

"I'll lie and tell the Captain I had to shoot you." The marine shrugged. "It's the only excuse he'll accept nowadays, which doesn't lead to death. Now leave before someone notices us!"

Tell sprinted off towards the harbour, leaving the marine behind.

"_I really hope nothing's happened to our boat..."_ He thought to himself. _"Ushio and Yura, I could live with, but our boat..."_

* * *

"For some reason, I get the feeling Tell's insulting us right now..." Yura muttered.

"I get that feeling most of the time." Ushio sighed, catching his breath. "Probably because he always does it to my face. Thanks for the help, by the way."

The street was littered with the bodies of fallen marines, most of whom were sopping wet.

"I did my bit." Yura shrugged.

"You hid behind a dustbin." Ushio pointed out.

"I was giving you spiritual support."

"Sure..." Ushio wiped the last of the blood from his staff. "We should probably head back now. Tell and Aisha are probably worried about us."

"Okay." Yura agreed. "By the way..."

"What?"

"I can't help but notice that you seem way more serious at the moment." Yura explained. "And, you know... less fun."

"Really? Hadn't noticed myself." Ushio shrugged. "What the hell happened here?"

The two reached the harbour and surveyed the carnage.

"Did Tell do this?" Yura gasped.

"No..." Ushio knelt down to take a closer look at the wounds. "These are sword wounds, not gun wounds. Take a look."

"I'd rather not..." Yura's face was going green again. "I'm struggling not to pass out... Hey, maybe the girl had some sort of special hidden swordfighting talent and the stress awoke it?"

Ushio thought a moment.

"That seems the logical solution." He admitted. "But if so, where is she now? And where's Tell?"

Something suddenly caught his attention. He plucked a sheet of paper off the body of a marine.

"It's a note from Aisha!" He explained.

"And it's written in red crayon!" Yura peeked over Ushio's shoulder. "How cute!"

"That's blood..."

"Blood..."

"Don't throw up on me!"

* * *

**A few minutes earlier**

"Are you done yet?" Tsurugi growled.

"Almost!" Aisha put the finishing touches to her letter explaining the situation. "Alright, let's go!"

"I can't believe I have to babysit a kid, now." Tsurugi groaned. "Damn that sunglasses idiot."

Tsurugi had pleasantly 'interrogated' one of the marines and found out about Tell's capture. Surprisingly, she had decided to go and rescue him, although Aisha thought she was just being nice. Since there was no-one guarding the ship, Tsurugi had agreed to let Aisha come with her, so she could protect her.

The two were on their way to the main marine fortress, when Tsurugi stopped.

"What is it?" Aisha asked.

"Something's wrong." Tsurugi growled. "Why aren't there any marines patrolling here?"

"Maybe they're busy fighting Big Bro Ushio?" Aisha suggested.

"There should still be a couple here..." Tsurugi pointed out. "I don't understand why... Big Bro Ushio?"

"Yeah." Aisha nodded. "And you're Big Sis Tsurugi."

"Er... okay then." Tsurugi scratched her head in embarrassment. Suddenly, she heard a slight noise. Without hesitation, she swung around and pointed her katana at some nearby rooftops. "You! Come out!"

At first, there was silence, then laughter could be heard.

"Nishishishi!" One voice chuckled. "Looks like she found us!"

"You're much too loud Goriggan." Another more serious voice sighed. "You gave us away."

"Ook ook ook!" A third voice growled. "That's Origgan! Not Goriggan!"

"I said, show yourself!" Tsurugi repeated.

"Hey, she said we should show ourselves." The first voice pointed out. "Should we?"

"I see no reason not to."

"Ook ook! Let's do it!"

Suddenly, there was a bright flash from the rooftop. Tsurugi managed to avert her eyes just in time but, when she looked back, she could see three figures on the roof.

The first was a short, skinny man, with flame red hair and a malicious grin on his face.

The second was a more well-built man, with a serious looking face and three scabbards at his belt.

The third was a... gorilla?

"Battling evil!" The first leapt into an odd pose. "I am... 'Piercer' Jack!"

"Defending innocence!" The second leapt into a similar pose. "I am... 'Three Swords' Zere!"

"Upholding justice!" The gorilla raised its arms above its head. "I am... 'Wild Beast' Origgan!"

Suddenly, there was another bright flash and sparks filled the air.

"And together, we are..." The three posed against each other as a large explosion went off behind them. "The Three Pillars of Justice!"

…

Many thoughts swam through Tsurugi's head at that moment. She decided to sum them up in two simple words.

"... the hell?"

* * *

"P.S, sorry about the whole 'writing in blood' thing, I couldn't find a pen." Ushio finished reading Aisha's letter. "This is..."

"Awful!" Yura gasped. "Tell's been caught!"

"Fantastic!" Ushio grinned.

"Huh?"

"Think about it!" Ushio explained. "Why would Tsurugi come back to the ship looking for us?"

"Er..." Yura thought a moment. "I dunno. Why?"

"Obviously she wants to join our crew!" Ushio chuckled. "After all, she said she'd 'think about it'!"

"Of course!" Yura realised. "That must be it! You're a genius!"

"I know." Ushio gave a smug smile. "Now we'd better go and rescue my useless first mate."

"Who the hell are you calling useless?" Tell suddenly dropped down from the roof he'd been hiding on, startling the two.

"How the heck did you escape?" Ushio asked. "Or did you just go for a really long toilet break and everyone thought you'd been captured?"

"I single-handedly slipped my ropes and proceeded to beat up every marine in the base." Tell lied. "Because I'm a badass."

"If you're such a badass, then how did you get caught in the first place?" Ushio pointed out.

"Shut up." Tell began untying one of the ropes docking the ship to the harbour. "Now we need to get out of here before-"  
"What about Tsurugi and Aisha!" Ushio interrupted.

"What about them?"

"We need to rescue them!" Ushio explained. "After all, Tsurugi left to try and rescue you!"

"Really?" Tell was surprised. "Why?"

"I think she wants to join our crew." Ushio shrugged.

"You mean, you _hope_ she wants to join your crew." Tell corrected. "Anyway, this place is crawling with marines, and we have no idea where the two of them are.

Suddenly, the group could see a large explosion in the centre of town, where the Pillars of Justice had just performed their 'routine'.

…

"Hey, do you think she's-?"

"Shut up."

* * *

"**Single Sword Style..."**

"**Three Sword Style..."**

Tsurugi and 'Three Swords' Zere faced each other down, swords drawn...

"**...Dove Song!"**

"**...Demon Slash!"**

The two charged at each other in a swift movement, their blades clanging against each other. There was a brief pause, as they tested each others strength, then there was a flurry of steel as Tsurugi went on the attack, Zere swinging his three swords wildly in an attempt to defend.

Meanwhile, 'Piercer' Jack and 'Wild Beast' Origgan sat on the sidelines, watching the fight.

"I'm so bored..." Jack groaned. "Why can't we join in?"

"Ook ook!" Origgan gave a snort. "You know Zere'll get really angry if we interfere with his swordfight."

"You know, you're really cowardly for a gorilla."

"Ook ook ook!" Origgan bashed his chest in rage. "I'm not a gorilla! I'm a man!"

"Whatever..."

There was a loud clang as Tsurugi and Zere's sword crashed particularly hard, sending sparks flying and knocking the two back.

"Drrtmp ymrhver chrath!" Zere yelled at Tsurugi, his voice muffled by the sword he had in his mouth. "Mrysrft syrms trbomph sumh bgrthre grempheft fwmphtthem!"

…

"What?" Tsurugi gave a puzzled look.

Zere sighed before removing the sword from his mouth.

"I said, don't think you have a chance!" Zere repeated. "I use the same sword style as two of the greatest sword fighters in the world, Roronoa Zoro and Sanroza Mihawk!"

"I don't care." Tsurugi got into a new battle stance. "You still look ridiculous."

"Why you-!" Zere put the sword back into his mouth **"Three Sword Style..."**

"**Single Sword Style..."**

"Here they go again..." Jack sighed.

"**Tiger Trap!"**

"**Kite Call!"**

The two clashed again, however this time Zere had the advantage. He mercilessly rained down blows upon Tsurugi, who defended with blinding speed.

"Grhmhmhmhm! (Grahahahaha!)" Zere laughed. "Fmp thr tephore off thre thremp thrword thryle! (Feel the terror of the three sword style!)"

"I don't care about your damn three sword style..." Tsurugi groaned, buckling under the weight of the blows. "But you still look ridiculous!"

With that, she shot upwards, breaking through Zere's attack and shattering the katana in Zere's mouth.

"Aah!" Zere screamed, jumping backwards with blood coming from his mouth. "My famed sword Sanshiryu! And my teeth! That really hurts!"

"Let's bring this fight to an end..." Tsurugi prepared to attack.

"Bring it, you little witch!" Zere growled. "I can fight just as well with two swords!"

The two prepared their final attacks.

"**Single Sword Style..."**

"**Twin Sword Style..."**

However, seconds before Tsurugi was about to move, she felt a blinding pain in her leg.

"What the-?" She gasped, falling to her knee in pain. "Wait a second, I-?"

"**Double Slash!"**

In a single swift movement, Zere dashed forward and cut Tsurugi across the chest...

* * *

"Nishishishi!" Jack chuckled. "Looks like Zere wins again."

"Ook!" Origgan growled. "Don't lie. That girl's leg injury was down to you, right?"

"You know, you have really good eyesight for a gorilla."

"Ook! I'm not a gorilla!"

* * *

From the garbage can she was hidden behind, Aisha whimpered at Tsurugi's defeat.

"Big Bro Ushio, hurry..."

* * *

"Keep back!" Tell hissed, as another marine patrol passed by.

"I don't see what the big deal is about avoiding the marines." Ushio scowled. "Let's just beat the crap out of them and get it over and done with."

"Idiot." Tell scowled back. "If we make a commotion, every marine in the town will come running and we'll never make it to Tsurugi and Aisha in time."

Tell also didn't want the marine who had helped him to be found out and punished, but he didn't mention that.

"Well, we're not gonna get there either way, at this rate." Ushio pointed out.

"You've got a point." Tell admitted. "But how are we supposed to get there quickly, while avoiding all the towns marines?"

"Wait a minute!" Ushio had a sinister grin on his face. "I've just had a great idea..."

"Oh no..."

"Don't worry." Zere sighed, sheathing his swords. "I struck you a non-lethal blow. We want you alive, after all."

Tsurugi could feel the blood running down her chest, as she collapsed to the ground. She could barely hear what Zere was saying, and her vision was beginning to blur. She'd been bested in combat once again and now...

_'No!'_ A voice in her head screamed. _'You haven't lost yet!'_

Slowly, she felt strength return to her body. She had to do this. She wouldn't lose to some two-bit swordsman. She owed her master that much...

"Glutton for more punishment, eh?" Zere chuckled, as Tsurugi slowly got to her feet. "What do you think you can do against me in that state?"

"Draw your swords..." Tsurugi growled, shaking heavily. "Let's finish this..."

"Fine!" Zere laughed, drawing his swords and charging towards Tsurugi. "Meet your doom! **Twin Sword Style..."**

"**Single Sword Style: Griffin's Scream!"**

Tsurugi moved with lightning speed, slicing through Zere's two swords and slashing him across the chest.

"Gaah...!" Zere coughed up blood and collapsed, leaving the panting Tsurugi still standing.

Tsurugi was still for a few moments, then she turned, pointing her sword at the two remaining Pillars of Justice.

"Which one of you wants to die first?" She growled.

"Ooh, how scary!" Jack said in mock horror. "I'd like to see how you can beat us without the use of your legs."

"Huh?" Suddenly, Tsurugi felt blinding pain in both of her legs, just like she had when fighting Zere. She collapsed to the ground, holding both of them in pain. To her surprise, they were bleeding slightly.

"Ook ook!" Origgan laughed, charging towards her. "Let's see how you deal with my Wild Beast punch!"

He slammed his fist into Tsurugi's chest, sending her flying across the street, and likely breaking a few ribs in the process. Tsurugi slid across the ground, until she eventually came to a halt at the feet of a very large man...

"Does someone want to tell me what the hell you've been doing to my town?" Captain Stacean growled...


	8. Arc 2: An Explosive Entrance!

_**Apologies that it's taking me so long to repost chapters... but I forget a lot...**_

* * *

_**Chapter 7: Captain Stacean's Devil Fruit revealed? The Neptune Pirates's dramatic entrance!**_

"To say that I have a bad feeling about this is an understatement..." Tell groaned. "I'm convinced that you must've drugged me, to get me to agree to this."

"Don't be such a wimp." Ushio scoffed. "This is a great plan. Yura, are the explosives ready?"

"Yep!" Yura grinned, clambering back onto the ship. "This going to be great fun! Ahahaha!"

"We're all going to die..."

* * *

"I said..." Captain Stacean picked the wounded Tsurugi up by her neck and slammed her into the wall. "What the hell have you been doing to my town?"

"Gack-!" Tsurugi could feel his huge hands crushing her windpipe.

"Marines uphold justice!" Stacean bellowed, slamming Tsurugi into the wall again and again. "But to uphold justice, you must be strong! Strength is justice! Justice is strength! Which is why we are the strongest! Because we are justice! Attacking me and my men is equal to attacking justice itself! And those who attack justice deserve death!"

With that, he smashed Tsurugi through the wall.

"Sir!" Jack saluted. "If you keep that up, you'll kill the girl, sir!"

"... You're right." Stacean threw Tsurugi's badly beaten body to the ground. "If I hand her over to Vice Admiral Minos, then I'll get a promotion, which will let me bring justice to all over the world! Perhaps this will one day lead to my promotion to Fleet Admiral! Clakaka- huh?"

To his surprise, despite her massive beating, Tsurugi had somehow managed to drag herself to her feet, and was now facing down the large Marine Captain, pointing her sword at him.

"She's a resilient one." Jack whistled, with a hint of respect in her voice.

"I... won't... lose..." Tsurugi panted. "In... the... name... of... my... master... I'll strike you down!"

She charged at Captain Stacean, who simply stood there, waiting for her blow. She swung her sword at his chest, screaming wildly.

*clang*

Tsurugi's sword pierced Stacean's shirt, but that was all. Beneath his shirt, Stacean seemed to have some sort of pale body armour, which Tsurugi couldn't cut through. And... had Stacean's stomach grown... rounder?

Tsurugi barely had to to react as Stacean's fist smashed into her. Except... it wasn't a fist. It was a pincer. Tsurugi was knocked backwards into a wall, while Stacean... Well, Stacean had transformed into a giant crab.

"Wha- What the-?" Tsurugi gasped.

"Oh, I suppose this is the first time you've seen a devil fruit. Clakakaka!" Stacean cackled. His face was now half-concealed by a giant, pale shell and he had some sort of odd helmet on"I ate the Crab Crab Fruit! I'm a crab man, with crab armour! Clakakaka! My power rivals the Marine's Five Beasts!"

"Heh." Tsurugi smiled weakly. "I've met one of the Five Beasts and your power doesn't even come close."

"Why you-?" Stacean's eye twitched. "I was planning on handing you over to Vice Admiral Minos alive, but now..." He raised his claw, intending to crush Tsurugi. "You've insulted justice too much to survive!"

*Kaboom*

"What the hell...?" Stacean turned to find the source of the loud sound. At first he couldn't see anything, but then, in the sky, he spotted... a marine ship?

* * *

"Hahah!" Ushio grinned, the wind blowing through his hair. "I knew this was a great idea!"

"I can't believe it..." Tell gasped. "But this is actually working!

"Um, guys...?" Yura had a nervous look on his face. "You know how, after we'd been propelled into the air by the explosives, we were planning on using the sails as parachutes to land?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, ahahaha..." Yura chuckled nervously. "I kind of accidentally ripped a large hole in one of them."

"So..." Tell put two and two together. "How are we going to land?"

"By hitting the ground at a very high speed."

"Oh..."

* * *

The large ship slammed into the ground, sending splinters flying everywhere. It continued to slide across the ground, smashing anything in its path, before eventually shuddering to a halt, in front of Captain Stacean, Tsurugi and the two remaining Pillars of Justice.

…

…

…

"Well, that was unexpected." Jack shrugged.

"Who the hell is responsible for this?" Stacean bellowed. "This very act is an affront to justice and must be punished by death! Now who is responsible for this?"

"That would be me."

A slight banging could be heard from inside the ship and, suddenly, something punched a hole through the top of the ruined ship.

And out of the hole, crawled Ushio D. Neptune, hefting a large water hammer.

"The name's Ushio D. Neptune!" He grinned. "The future Emperor of the Pirates!"

Suddenly, in a swift movement, he dashed forward and smashed Captain Stacean in the stomach, with his hammer, sending him flying backwards into a nearby house. Meanwhile, the hammer burst on impact, spraying water everywhere.

"Gnnnrggh..." Stacean groaned, climbing out of the wreckage. "How... dare you attack me! Don't you know who I am?"

"I don't care who you are." Ushio growled. "All I know is that I'm here to beat the crap out of you!"

"You? Beat me?" Stacean laughed, getting to his feet. "Clakakaka! How cocky! No mere criminal can top the power of justice!"

"Just watch me!" Ushio grinned. At his command, the water splashed all over the floor began to reform around his staff.

"Another devil fruit user?" Jack realised. "Nishishishi! How interesting!"

"Ook ook!" Origgan growled. "We'd should take care of him before the captain goes completely ape!"

"Ape huh?" Jack scratched his head. "You know, for a gorilla, you really need to lighten up."

"Ook ook! I'm not a-!"

"Yeah yeah, I know." Jack sighed. "You're not a gorilla. Look alive, we've got more company."

A groaning Tell crawled out of the hole that Ushio had made in the ship, dragging an unconscious Yura behind him.

"Remind me never to listen to you again..." He sighed, dusting off his jacket.

"Hey, it got us here in one piece." Ushio shrugged. "At least, I assume Yura isn't dead yet."

"Hang on, I'll check." Tell leant over Yura gave him a couple of slaps. "Oi, wake up!"

"No... I don't wanna go again..." Yura mumbled to himself.

"I said, wake up!"

"Gah!" Yura sprung awake. "Where am I? And is that a gorilla?"

"Ook ook ook ook!" Origgan began pounding his chest wildly. "I've had it with people calling me a gorilla!"

With surprising speed, he charged at the two, arms outstretched. Tell managed to dive out of the way, but Yura, still dizzy from the crash landing, couldn't move in time and was tackled by the large gorilla man. The two plummeted off the remains of the ship and out of Tell's sight.

"So how's Yura?" Ushio asked, having missed the exchange.

"Uh... fine." Tell gave a worried look, before jumping down to join Ushio. "Completely fine. So we just need to beat up these two guys, right?"

"Yup." Ushio nodded. Suddenly, something caught his eye. "Hey Tsurugi! You're still alive!"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Tsurugi groaned, getting to her feet again.

"I'm here to rescue you, so you can join my crew." Ushio shrugged. "What did think I was doing?"

"You really think I'm gonna join your crew?"

"Yup."

"I told you, you should've just agreed to join." Tell sighed. "He never gives up once he gets like this."

"I'm starting to see that..." Tsurugi sighed.

"You seem pretty badly injured." Tell noticed. "If you want, you can sit this out. Me and Ushio can handle these jokers."

"No." Tsurugi grimaced. "I'm not the sort of person who'll just sit back and let others do the fighting for me.

"Fair enough." Tell shrugged. "Ushio'll be pissed if you get in his way, though."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Are you two lovebirds done chatting yet?" Ushio grinned. "Shameful behaviour from you Tell, flirting with another woman mere days after you left Anna."

"What?"

"So you were just flirting with me." Tsurugi gave Tell a suspicious glare. "I should've known better."

"No, I'm not like that!" Tell gasped, embarrassed. "He's just joking!"

"Right..." Tsurugi turned back to the action, but she still seemed suspicious.

"Ushio, why the hell did you do that?" Tell yelled. "Now she doesn't trust me!"

"I was just getting a bit jealous of you two being so chummy." Ushio admitted. "After all, you're both supposed to be members of my cr-Waagh!"

All of a sudden, Tell sprang forward and kicked Ushio in the back of the leg, knocking him over.

"What the heck was that for!" Ushio yelled, getting back to his feet. "I know you're angry about the whole 'flirting' thing, but you-"

"I'm not angry about that!" Tell growled. "Check your ear."

"Huh?" Ushio raised a hand to his ear, to find it was bleeding slightly. "What the-?"

"That guy just threw something at you." Tell drew his pistol and pointed it at 'Piercer' Jack. "Didn't you?"

"Nishishishi!" Jack chuckled. "So you spotted that? You have excellent eyesight."

"I saw you moving your hand, as if to throw something." Tell explained. "What you actually threw, I have no idea. But I'm guessing it wasn't good."

"Wait a minute!" Captain Stacean realised something. "You're that prisoner we caught earlier! I thought you were dead!"

"I came back from the grave to get my vengeance." Tell shrugged.

"Eh, Tell?" Ushio seemed surprised. "You're actually dead?"

"Of course not!"

"Oh, I see." Stacean gave a sly smile. "That marine must've let you go."

Tell's nervous gulp told the Captain he was completely right.

"What a shame." Stacean sighed. "I suppose I'll have to execute him now."

"If you want, I can go take care of it, sir." Jack offered. "Providing you can take care of these pirates?"

"I can more than easily beat these water rats." Stacean growled. "Go and execute the traitor right away."

"Understood." Jack nodded, a grin on his face, before he ran off, heading for the Marine HQ.

"Hold it!" Tell fired off a couple of shots, but they both missed. Holstering his gun, Tell began to give chase, but he was blocked by the enormous form of Captain Stacean.

"I will not allow you to impede justice!" He roared, swinging his claw towards Tell. "I'll squash you like a-!"

"**Neptune Sledgehammer!"**

Ushio smashed in the face with his water hammer, stunning him, before following up with another blow to the stomach, destroying Ushio's hammer and knocking Stacean onto his back. Tell nodded his appreciation, before jumping over Stacean and giving chase to Jack.

"You little...!" Stacean looked _really_ mad now. "Don't underestimate the power of the Crab Crab Fruit!"

"Bring it!" Ushio grinned, reforming his hammer for a third time. "I'm in the mood for crab tonight!"

* * *

"Where am I...?" Yura groaned, rubbing his head. "I remember a crash landing... then a gorilla, then-"

"Ook!"

Yura suddenly felt something grab his legs. Then, he was hoisted into the air and spun round and round, before being thrown into a wall. Before he could recover, there was a flurry of fists and something punched him through the brick wall, before grabbing him and throwing him at another wall.

"I'm not a gorilla!" A furious Origgan bellowed. "I'll kill anyone who calls me that! I am Origgan! Wild Beast of the Three Pillars of Justice!"

"Hey..." Yura groaned, getting to his feet. "You could really hurt someone doing that."

"What the-?" Origgan jumped back in surprise. "How are you still alive? I just punched you through a wall!"

"What can I say?" Yura shrugged. "I guess I'm just resilient."

* * *

"Nishishishi!" Jack cackled. "You're a resilient one, following me all the way here."

Tell had finally caught up with Jack at a small town square.

"I'm not gonna let you kill that guy." Tell growled. "I'll beat you before you can get to him."

"Ooh, how frightening!" Jack said with mock terror. "You're a scary guy!"

Tell caught Jack's swift hand movement just in time, and dived to the side. As he did so, he heard something whistle past his ear. He drew his gun and prepared to return fire, but stopped at the last second, noticing something...

"What's the matter?" Jack grinned. "Not going to shoot me?"

"Nope." Tell drew his other gun and examined that too. "What the hell did you do to my guns?"

"Why whatever do you mean?" Jack gasped, feigning ignorance. "It's not like I deliberately prolonged this chase just so I could disable your only form of weaponry,by secretly throwing something at it!"

"I built this gun almost completely by myself." Tell growled, showing Jack his Eastwood gun. "I know almost everything about it. Its firing time, its power, its reloading time and, most importantly, its weight. At the moment, it's slightly heavier than usual and I can't find the cause. Not to mention, the nozzle now seems blocked. Now what did you do to it?"

"I guess you found me out..." Jack sighed. "Most people remember me as 'Piercer' Jack but, in fact, I have a second nickname." He raised his fist and Tell could barely see three, razor-thin needles wedged his fingers. "They call me 'Needle' Jack. Nishishishi! Ready to di- Mmph?"

Tell's boot collided with Jack's face, knocking him back.

"What the hell was that?" Jack yelled, clutching a bloody nose. "I was explaining my fighting style to you, you bast-"

Tell followed up with a heel kick to side of Jack's head, sending him scattering across the square.

"If you have to fight, fight." Tell grinned getting into a fighting stance. "Don't waste your time talking. Especially when I can kick your ass without my guns. Did I mention I know Black Leg style?"


	9. Arc 2: Defeat Captain Stacean!

_**Chapter 8: The Neptune Pirates vs The Pillars of Justice! The Magnet Magnet fruit's weakness?!**_

"**Neptune Sledgehammer!"**

Ushio charged towards Stacean, hammer at the ready

"I'm not falling for that again!" Stacean growled. **"Crab Guard!"**

Stacean crossed his pincers and braced himself for the impact. Ushio's hammer hit him head on, sending him skidding backwards slightly, but not seriously hurting him. Once again, the hammer burst on impact and, once again, Ushio reformed it.

"You got better!" He grinned. "But I'm not going to lose!"

"Cocky little-!" Stacean moved forward with blinding speed. **"Pincer Piercer!"**

Stacean tried to stab Ushio with his claw but, using his staff as a pole vault, Ushio leapt over him and struck him in the back. Stacean stumbled forward slightly, but didn't fall over.

_'They're both so strong!'_ Tsurugi thought to herself, from the sidelines. _'So this is a fight between Devil Fruit users!'_

However, she couldn't help but notice that Ushio's attacks seemed to be getting weaker. When he had first attacked, he had sent Stacean flying across the street. Now, he was lucky if he could knock him over. And... was his hammer getting smaller?

Ushio dodged another of Stacean's claw attacks and managed to hit him with a glancing blow to the side of the head. However, this didn't even seem to faze Stacean and he batted Ushio away with a blow from his claw. His first hit of the match.

"What's the matter, brat?!" Stacean chuckled. Obvious Tsurugi wasn't the only one to notice that Ushio had slowly been getting weaker. "Getting tired?"

"Hell no!" Ushio grinned, wiping away a trickle of blood from his mouth. "Just thought I should give you a bit of a fighting chance!"

"Oh really?" Stacean raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "And you think I haven't noticed yet?"

"Noticed what?"

"Your hammer's grown smaller." Stacean pointed out. "Now, you haven't told me what your Devil Fruit power is but, whatever it is, it appears to rely on water. However, there's no water here and every time that hammer bursts water is lost, due to it being absorbed by the ground, or whatever. And thus you get slowly weaker. Am I right, scum?"

"I... I don't know what you're talking about..." Ushio said, with a face that told everyone he was blatantly lying. "My Devil Fruit doesn't have an incredibly obvious weakness like that!"

"Bullseye." Stacean grinned. "This'll be easier than I thought..."

"**Wild Beast Punch!" **Origgan drew back his fist and punched Yura as hard as he could. Yura was sent flying, smashing through several stone walls in the process, eventually stopping when he collided with a slightly thicker brick wall. Before Yura could get to his feet, Origgan had grabbed him by the neck and thrown him into the air, before jumping up afterwards and delivering a blizzard of powerful punches to the young boy. Then, as a finishing move, he climbed on top of him and drove his heel into Yura's head, just as they slammed into the ground.

"Heh..." Origgan panted. "I'd like to see you survive that, monkey boy! Ook ook ook!"

"I'll admit, that hurt a little bit more than last time." Yura shrugged, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. "You're really strong for a gorilla."

"Wha...?!" Origgan was too shocked to even be angry at being called a gorilla. "How are you still standing so easily?! That should've been enough to kill any man!"

"Surely you should've figured it out by now?" Yura sighed. "After all, we're in the same boat."

"Huh?"

"A Devil Fruit." Yura explained. "Obviously you've eaten the Gori Gori fruit while I've-"

"I'm not a gorilla!" Origgan yelled. "Why does everyone say that?!"

…

"Because you look almost identical to a gorilla..." Yura pointed out, with a deadpan expression.

"I do?" Origgan seemed genuinely surprised. "Why did no-one tell me this before?! This explains everything! I-I feel so much better, now!"

"Does this mean I can go?" Yura asked, with some degree of hope.

"No, I'm still going to rip you limb from limb once I figure out how you're blocking my attacks." Origgan growled.

"Aw..." Yura sighed. "I guess I'm gonna have to get serious now."

"Ook?"

Yura stepped into a fighting stance.

"As I was going to tell you, before I was interrupted, I ate the Dial Dial Fruit: Impact Model." Yura explained. "I can absorb any... well, almost any physical impact. Not only that, but I can absorb the impact, then use it on my opponent! Now taste the power of your own Wild Beast Punch! **Reversal Punch!**"

"Ooooooooooookkkkkk!"

Yura charged at the stunned Origgan and punched the gorilla as hard as he could!

It... wasn't very effective. Origgan didn't even react to the punch

"Take that! And that!" Yura yelled, punching Origgan's stomach over and over, but it was about as effective as being hit by a rolled-up newspaper.

"Ook?"

"Well..." Yura chuckled nervously. "The whole 'reversal' thing doesn't work all of the time... Ahahaha..."

"Black Leg Style?!" Jack gasped. "The same fighting style as Black Leg Sanj- Umph!"

Tell kicked Jack in the face again, before following up with several swift kicks to the stomach, sending the marine falling backwards.

"Stop doing that!" Jack yelled, exasperated. "Who attacks someone while they're speak- Gah!"

Jack narrowly avoided Tell's second kick and scrambled away to a safe distance.

"Hah!" Jack laughed. "You're not getting me this time! Now eat this!"

He raised his arm and prepared to throw the three needles he was holding.

_'This isn't good.'_ Tell thought to himself. _'This guy's obviously a professional and my guns are useless. I'm not even that good at Black Leg Style. I only know the basics. But I've got one advantage...'_

"**Needle Sto- Waagh!"**

Before Jack could throw his needles, Tell had charged at him and launched a flying kick into his ribs. Jack collapsed to the ground in a crumpled heap.

_'This guy talks way too much...'_

"Not even going to let me finish my attack name, huh." Jack panted. "How very cr-"

Tell raised his foot, intending to stop Jack's face into the ground, but this time Jack was prepared, and leapt up, stabbing Tell's leg with two needles. Tell jumped back in pain and, before he could react, Jack flung two needles through his shoulder.

"Gnngh!" Tell gritted his teeth from the pain, before attempting to hobble over to Jack, in order to kick him again.

Jack, having learnt his lesson, kept his distance and pierced Tell's leg with another needle. Tell collapsed to the floor, in serious pain.

"Nishishishi!" Jack cackled, looking over his fallen opponent. "I trust I can talk without being interrupted now?"

"Still not given up, brat?" Stacean chuckled. "If you surrender now, I'll make your death painless."

"Heh..." Ushio clutched his badly bleeding arm. "I'm not gonna lose to an oversized shellfish..."

During the fight, Stacean had finally managed to get a good blow on Ushio, piercing his arm with a pincer. Ushio was no longer using his water hammer, since it had grown too small to make any real difference. No matter how you looked at it, Ushio was in trouble.

"Take this!" Ushio yelled, leaping into the air, preparing to smack Stacean over the head with his staff.

Stacean smashed him out of the sky without batting an eyelid.

Ushio was sent sliding across the ground on his back, before colliding with a wall. Before he could recover, Stacean was above him, raising a claw to smash Ushio's head in. Ushio braced himself for the impact when...

*clang*

Tsurugi stood over Ushio, shaking under the weight of the attack she'd just blocked.

"Go..." She groaned. "I'll keep him busy..."

"I'm not abandoning you." Ushio growled, getting to his feet.

"I'm counting on it." Tsurugi chuckled. "But if you're gonna beat that guy, you'll need some water."

It took a couple of seconds for that statement to sink in for Ushio.

"Oh!" He realised. "Got it! You sure you'll be okay in your condition?"

"I'll can hold him off for 5 minutes." Tsurugi answered. "No more, no less."

"Try not to die!" Ushio grinned. "You won't be able to join my crew, otherwise."

"Just go!"

Ushio ran off into the distance, while Tsurugi and Stacean faced each other down.

"You really think you can handle me for five minutes?!" Stacean laughed. "I doubt you could handle me for 20 seconds! Your puny sword cannot break through my crab armour!"

"Don't underestimate me..." Tsurugi gave a sly smile. "This sword isn't the only weapon in my arsenal!"

"Water, water, water..." Ushio ran down the street, looking desperately for anything that could help. "The port's much too far away, so where-?"

"Big Bro Ushio!" Ushio suddenly heard someone calling him.

Aisha ran into view.

"This way!" She called. "I know where you can get some water!"

"H-How?!" Stacean gasped, as blood ran down his chest. "How did you cut through my crab shield with such a tiny sword?!"

"Hmph." Tsurugi grunted, wielding what appeared to be... a sword hilt? A closer look would've shown that there was a blade, albeit a really small one. In a swift motion, she had cut through Stacean's crab armour, although the short blade meant it hadn't done much damage. "Why did you think your puny armour would hold up against one of the twelve Supreme Grade Swords, Tentou Senshuu!"

"A Supreme Grade Sword?!" Stacean gasped. "But... why is it so small?"

"No reason!" Tsurugi looked embarrassed.

"Oh, I see." Stacean grinned. "I've heard of swords like this, which don't awaken their full potential until their wielder does..."

"I-It's not like that!" Tsurugi protested. "I'm already more than skilled enough to use this sword!"

"If you're sword is too short to seriously hurt me..." Stacean chuckled. "Then this fight will never last for 5 minutes! Clakakakaka!"

"This... This is..." Ushio gasped at the sight. "...What is it?"

"It's a water tower." Aisha sighed. "It holds drinking water."

Ushio looked over the giant, metal tower.

"It's very big..." Ushio nodded. "Is all of that filled with water?"

"Yes." Aisha nodded. "Now hurry up and break it open, so you can go beat up that crab guy!"

"Got it!" Ushio leapt at the tower, swinging his staff wildly.

*clang*

Unsurprisingly, Ushio's simple wooden staff failed to break through the tough metal tower.

"Huh!" Ushio jumped back in surprise. "I guess I'm gonna need a new way to break through."

"I'm afraid you've run out of time..." A voice sounded behind them.

Captain Stacean walked into view holding a limp Tsurugi in his claws...

"Waitwaitwaitwait!" Yura screamed, as he ran for his life. "We can talk about this!"

Realising that physical attacks were unlikely to work, Origgan had now decided to use a different method. And was currently chasing after Yura with a _very_ large sword.

"Ook ook!" Origgan yelled. "Stand still!"

"No!"

Yura ducked just in time, as the large sword sailed over his head. Unfortunately, this caused him to trip and he stumbled, slamming into a brick wall. Before he could recover, Origgan was over him and, raising his sword above him, prepared to strike.

"Any last words?" He grinned.

"Please don't kill me?" Yura asked, hopefully.

"Nope." Origgan brought the sword.

Something odd happened at that moment. Yura sneezed. While sneezing seconds before you face your death could be considered odd, that wasn't the _really_ odd thing. The really odd thing was the blast of air that shot from his mouth, sending Origgan flying into a wall.

…

Yura looked at himself in amazement, before slamming his fist into the wall. The wall smashed apart as if it had been hit by a bulldozer.

"Oh, now my reversal powers activate?!"

"Nishishishi! This is too brilliant!" Jack cackled, throwing another needle into Tell's back. "There's nothing I love more than slowly torturing a victim, especially when there's nothing they can do to fight back!"

Jack prepared to throw another needle, but Tell rolled out of the way before leaping to his feet, wobbling slightly.

"Oho!" Jack gasped in surprise. "You can still stand? Nishishishi! Obviously I've not been doing my job properly!"

"I have no intention of losing..." Tell growled. "Whoever that marine was, he saved my life. I intend to return the favour, any way I have to." He raised his hands to his sunglasses. "Now I want you to keep what I'm about to show you completely secret..."

"Okay!" Jack grinned. "I love secrets!"

Tell removed his sunglasses.

Jack's expression went from one of glee, to one of utter terror.

"Wha-What the hell is that?!" He shrieked, throwing a needle at Tell. "What the hell are you?!"

In a single swift movement, Tell caught the needle in midair.

"These are the eyes of a demon..."

"Clakakaka!" Stacean cackled. "You were so close! But I'm afraid your little friend couldn't hold out for 10 minutes! Clakakaka!"

He tossed Tsurugi's prone body onto the floor.

"Big Sis Tsurugi!" Aisha screamed, running over to the injured swordswoman.

"Ushio..." Tsurugi gasped, barely able to talk. "I'm... sorry..."

"Don't apologise." Ushio growled. "Can you still stand?"

"Yes..." Tsurugi managed to drag herself to her feet once more. "But not for long..."

"Good. Then here's what I want you to do..."

Stacean watched as Ushio whispered something in Tsurugi's ear.

"Whatever you're planning, it won't work." He chuckled. "I have the power of justice on my side! What hope do you have?"

"You know something?" Ushio sighed, stepping away from Tsurugi and Aisha. "If you've got the power of justice on your side, then justice must really not be that strong."

"What?!" Captain Stacean's eye twitched.

"Yeah." Ushio nodded, goading the Captain on. "I mean, I was beating the crap out of you easily earlier, so if you're the best justice has to offer, then I guess justice is pretty crap as well."

"You brat!" Stacean screamed, charging at Ushio. "How dare you insult justice!"

Ushio waited until the last second, before diving out of the way, leaving only the water tower in Captain Stacean's path...

"Now I've got you!" He grinned.

"Oh really?" Stacean grinded to a halt, only a few inches away from the water station. "I hope you didn't really think I'd fall for such an obvious ruse? You make me enraged, then I smash open the water tower for you. How foolish..."

"Yeah, it was kinda." Ushio admitted. "But not as foolish as turning your back on one of your opponents. Tsurugi, now!"

"**Tentou Senshuu Style..." **Tsurugi prepared her tiny sword. **"Endless River!"**

In a swift movement, she cut up through the water tower sending several gallons of water plummeting to the ground below...

"Now," Ushio grinned, reforming his water hammer, even bigger than before. It now dwarfed over Captain Stacean. "Let's finish this!"

"**Reversal Barrage!"** Yura threw a flurry of fists at Origgan, each one causing massive damage to the gorilla..

"**Black Leg Beatdown!" **Tell dodged Jack's desperate needle throwing and hit him with a barrage of kicks to the stomach, chest and head.

"**Neptune Megaton Hammer!" **Tell swung his giant hammer towards Captain Stacean.

"Do it, Big Bro Ushio!" Aisha screamed.

"Finish him!" Tsurugi grinned.

"How dare you!" Captain Stacean roared. "I am an agent of justice! To defy me is to defy justice itself! And what man would dare to defy justice?!"

"My name is Ushio D. Neptune, future Emperor of the Pirates!" Ushio shouted. " And I don't give a crap about your lousy justice!"

The huge torrent of water smashed into Captain Stacean flattening him and shattering his crab armour. The street below him cracked as the hammer crushed the psychopathic marine. Eventually, the hammer began to buckle and burst, spraying water all over the street.

And Ushio D. Neptune stood triumphant over the beaten body of Captain Stacean...


	10. Arc 2: A New Danger on the Horizon

_**Chapter 9: A swift farewell! The true justice of the Marines?!**_

At first there was silence.

Then, the townspeople who had witnessed the event from their homes emerged... and cheered. The news spread through the town like wildfire.

The tyrannical Captain Stacean had been defeated!

Ushio was treated like a hero, something he didn't exactly protest. The cheering grew even louder when Tell and Yura emerged, having beaten their respective opponents. Tell was still curious as to how Yura managed to beat his opponent, but he put his suspicions aside to join in the celebrations. The mood wasn't even dampened when Tsurugi finally collapsed from her injuries and had to be carted off to a doctor.

What did ruin the mood, however, was when the rest of the marines turned up. Ushio and Tell prepared themselves for another fight, while Yura hid behind some garbage cans. The leader of the marines took one look at the beaten Captain Stacean... and grinned happily.

The tyrannical Captain Stacean had been defeated!

It turned out that most of the marines were as terrified of Captain Stacean as the townspeople were. After all, this was the men who had his marines executed for incredibly trivial things, such as stealing an apple, missing training and other minor charges.

More surprises were in order when the lead marine revealed himself. Not only was he the marine who had saved Tell while he was in prison, but he was also Aisha's big brother, who had disguised himself as a marine to avoid execution. There was joy and merriment had by all. They didn't even care that Captain Stacean and the pillars of justice had managed to drag themselves back to their HQ, while no-one was looking. After all, what could they do to them now?

Their merriment was kind of dampened, however, when a large marine battleship appeared on the horizon...

* * *

"Do you have to go?" Aisha whined. "Can't you stay a little longer?!"

"Sorry Aisha." Ushio shrugged, from the deck of the new boat the townspeople had given them. "We're brave pirates of the sea, which means we always have to run away from marines."

"Something about that sentence doesn't quite make sense..." Tell sighed, carrying a large crate aboard.

"Hey guys, we need to be going in a couple of minutes!" Yura called. "Judging by the clouds, there's going to be a strong current soon, which'll help us outrun the marine ship!"

"Don't you think you should wait until your swordswoman is fully healed?" Aisha's older brother, the newly instated Captain McAfee suggested. "We could keep you hidden."

"Nah, she'll be fine." Ushio grinned. "See! She's already up and about!"

"M-Miss Tsurugi!" A couple of the town's doctors ran up to the swordswoman, who was slowly hobbling her way up to deck. "You really should be in bed!"

"Like hell!" Tsurugi growled. "I've got training to do!"

"See!" Ushio chuckled. "She'll be completely fine! After all, she's a member of my crew!"

"Oi! Since when did you decide that!" Tsurugi hobbled over to Ushio. "I never said I'd join your damn crew!"

"Then why did you come back to the ship looking for us?" Ushio asked. "And why did you try and rescue Tell?"

"I was planning on killing you so that you couldn't reveal any information about me to the marines." Tsurugi answered, with complete honesty.

"Oh..."

"Relax, I'm not gonna do it now." Tsurugi sighed. "You guys did save my life."

"Sweet! So do you want to join our crew, then?" Ushio asked, face filled with hope.

"Well..." Tsurugi's face seemed deep in thought. "You guys are pretty strong... Tell you what, I'll join you temporarily."

"Good enough for me." Ushio shrugged. "Mr Mate, prepare to set sail!"

"Aye aye, Cap'n" Tell sighed, unravelling the ropes docking the boat.

"Heeheehee..." Ushio snickered.

"What?" Tell asked.

"You called me Cap'n..."

"Shut up!"

And so the Neptune Pirates set forth towards their next adventure, with a new [temporary] crew member on board. Little did they know the dangers awaiting them and that the powers-to-be were discussing their existence at that very moment...

* * *

**Grand Line Main Marine Headquarters- Marineford**

Fleet Admiral Vires sat in silence as arguments erupted around him.

"A meeting of the Shichibukai just to deal with some headstrong runts?! What madness is this?!"

"We shouldn't underestimate the North Blue Supernovas! People said Gold Roger and Straw Hat Luffy were headstrong runts and look what happened!"

"That doesn't mean we should invite those savages here! Remember what happened last time?!"

"I agree! You can't trust the Shichibukai! Remember that incident with Doflamingo?! The World Government was almost toppled! And then there's Crocodile, Jimbei, Law, Blackbeard and Jeremiah!"

"But we need the Shichibukai to help deal with this new threat! If these Supernovas are anything like the last-"

"The Navy can handle these rookies with ea-"

"Silence!" Fleet Admiral Vires bellowed. "This no time for bickering among ourselves! These pirates are a threat to the very core of justice!"

The meeting hall immediately fell silent at the sound of the Fleet Admiral's booming voice.

"Now, I understand that some of you gentlemen do not understand the need for a meeting of the Shichibukai." Fleet Admiral Vires continued in a calm tone. "In normal cases, I would agree. The Shichibukai are ruthless, untrustworthy savages with no sense of justice. If I had my way, they would all be wiped from the face of the earth. However, considering the recent actions of 'Anarchist' Jeremiah, we of the World Government must leave no room for new pirate rookies to prove themselves and become a nuisance! After Fleet Admiral Sakazuki was defeated by Straw Hat Luffy at the beginning of the Second Pirate Age, we of the World Government have had to raise ourselves from the lowest point in our existence and we will not allow history to repeat itself! And for that reason, we need the Shichibukai on our side!"

He slammed his fist on the meeting table, leaving several large cracks in the diamond encrusted surface.

"Now, I'm sure some of you are worried that the Shichibukai... may cause a slight mess." Vires chose his words carefully there. "Especially after 'Debris Collector' Molze's little... 'accident' last year. That is why I intend to attend the meeting myself, accompanied by the three Admirals and four of the Marines Five Beasts. That should intimidate even the Shichibukai into behaving."

"What about the fifth of the Beasts?" A voice piped up. "Vice Admiral Minos!"

"I hear he is in the North Blue right now." Vires smiled, unsettlingly. "On a special job for the Celestial Dragons..."

* * *

"Captain Stacean, sir!" 'Piercer' Jack reported. "The townspeople are still attempting to break down the gate!"

"Ook ook ook!" Origgan wailed. "We're doomed! First Zere abandons us and now this!"

The loud rabble of the angry townspeople could be heard, as they attempted to bash down the door to the marine HQ. Captain Stacean, however, sat in silence, tightly gripping a wanted poster of Ushio D. Neptune that he'd found.

"Damn you Mad Emperor..." He growled, his hands trembling. "You've ruined everything..."

Suddenly, the townspeople outside fell eerily silent. Then, the door to the HQ was practically ripped off its hinges and thrown across the room, before a man walked in.

A very tall man.

A man who dwarfed even Captain Stacean.

**The Marines Five Beasts: Vice Admiral Minos**

Admittedly, he wasn't a giant, but he might as well've been, with the sheer aura of power he radiated. He had a short, neatly trimmed, black beard and deep piercing eyes. He carried a humongous, double-sided axe on his back and wore the uniform of a Marine Vice Admiral. By his sides were two younger boys, both also marines, but with a Commodore's stripes on their shoulder.

**Aides to Vice Admiral Minos: Commodore Civli and Commodore Saiva**

Commodore Civli had short purple hair, which sparkled in the sunlight. It was obvious to anyone that he took good care of his hair. He was also immaculately dressed, with not a single thread or crease out of place.

This was quite a contrast to the Commodore Saiva, very messily dressed, with his shirt untucked, his sleeves rolled up and long, shoulder length, muddy, white hair.

"Are you Captain Kraus S. Stacean?" Minos asked.

"Yeah." Stacean growled, obviously not intimidated. "Who the hell are you?!"

"You're under arrest for the murder of Captain Chitty Chitty and his crew." Minos continued in a monotone voice. "You're also on charges of excessive damage, attacking civilians and abusing your position. Please come quietly."

"Like hell!" Stacean leapt at Minos, intending to run him through with a pincer. "I am justice!"

Minos caught Stacean's pincer in mid-air and began crushing it in his arm.

"Aaaaahhh!" Stacean screamed, as the bones in his arm were crushed to gravel.

"Captain!" Jack yelled, throwing a needle at the man. "Eat this!"

"**Heat Guard."**

Commodore Civli leapt in front of the needle. Immediately, a sudden wave of heat could be felt by everyone in the room. When Jack's needle hit the Commodore's skin, it melted instantly, leaving only a small puddle of melted iron on his hand.

"**Ice Prison."**

Suddenly, a cold breeze swept through the room and Civli grabbed Jack around the throat. Jack began to scream, but slowly his lips turned blue and a large block of ice formed around him.

"Ook ook!" Origgan screamed. "How dare you do that to Jack!"

Before he could do anything though, Commodore Saiva had grabbed him by the back of his head and smashed him into the ground, leaving a small crater where he had impacted. His arm had taken on an odd white consistency and now more resembled the arm of a wild animal, than anything else.

"How messy, Saiva." Civli snorted. "Couldn't you have beaten him in a neater way?"

"Well, sorry I don't have neat ice-powers like you, Civli." Saiva growled. "Boss Minos, who do you think did it best?"

"That does not matter." Minos sighed, before turning back to the struggling Captain Stacean. "Do you surrender now?"

"Never!" Stacean snarled.

"I see." Minos gave a slight smirk. "Then I have permission to carry out your sentence here."

With that, he tossed Stacean into the air, smashing him through the thick, brick roof.

"Captain Kraus S. Stacean." Minos drew his axe. "For your horrific crimes against justice and humanity, you are sentenced to death. Any last words?"

"I have done no such crimes against justice!" Stacean screamed, floating in the air. "I am justice! Now eat this! **Max Crab Guard!**"

He transformed into his crab form and hid inside his shell.

"You are not justice!" Minos snarled, leaping into the air with a power that'd make Ushio and Tell blush. "You are a weak-minded bully who uses justice as an excuse for his actions! Now taste true justice!"

In a single move, he sliced Captain Kraus S. Stacean clean in two.

"Justice is served." Minos muttered, landing perfectly on the roof, as the remains of Captain Stacean crashed to the ground.

"Boss Minos!" Commodore Civli jumped up to join him on the roof. "I have discovered that the blue-haired girl left the town with this man!"

He passed Minos the wanted poster of Ushio D. Neptune.

"Nu-uh!" Commodore Saiva protested, jumping up to join them. "I was the one who found that out! You're just trying to take the credit for my work!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm no-"

"Quite, both of you." Minos sighed. Immediately the two boys stopped squabbling and stood to attention. "Ushio D. Neptune, eh... Prepare the boat! We're going to find this pirate and show him the power of true justice!"


	11. Special: The Shichibukai Meet

_**Chapter 10: The Shichibukai meet! Discuss the Supernovas?!**_

To say it was hectic at Marineford would be a serious underestimation. It was so hectic that if a marine wasn't running around in a panic, trying to do several things at once, he was put on a dereliction of duty charge.

The Shichibukai were coming!

And this wasn't one of those regular Shichibukai meetings where the Shichibukai rarely actually turned up, unless they really wanted to try the buffet at the Marine cafeteria. Fleet Admiral Vires had sent a message instructing the Shichibukai that if they didn't turn up, they would be stripped of their status. Whatever this meeting was about, it must've been very important.

"Clear the way!" A voice sounded among the chaos. "Two of the Royal Shichibukai are coming through!"

Immediately, there was a scramble to move out of the way of the two Shichibukai. Minutes later, and the path was completely clear, with a rich, red carpet covering the ground. The two Royal Shichibukai soon came into view.

"Kishakshakshak!" The first Shichibukai chuckled. "So we're the 'Royal' Shichibukai now? Even after that unceremonious summons? Kishakshakshak!"

**Royal Shichibukai: Rashank 'Raptor' DeRoy **

**Former Bounty: 460,000,000 **

DeRoy was a tall, skinny man, with a slight hunch as he walked. He dressed in a dark-green leather jacket, with blue jeans and a white T-shirt with the word 'Raptor' written on it in big red letters.

"Don't get what's so funny." The second Shichibukai grunted. "Those damn Marines treatin' us like dirt! Makes me want to smash them!"

**Royal Shichibukai: Bulledo 'Debris Collector' Molze**

**Former Bounty: 320,000,000**

Molze was a huge man, easily dwarfing DeRoy. He also looked like he'd spend his entire life living in a pile of compost. Smelt like it too.

"Then why don't you?" Deroy suggested. "You did last time! Kishakshakshak!"

"That would be unwise for the both of you." A voice sounded out.

Immediately, a figure appeared between the two. He was shorter than both of the Shichibukai, yet somehow commanded even more of a presence than them. He was dressed in an impeccable blue suit, with the typical marine jacket on his back.

**Admiral Aokiji (formerly Kirakai) **

"Oho! They sent an admiral to pick us up!" DeRoy grinned. "Although considering the mess Molze caused last time, that's not surprising! Kishakshakshak!"

"We have made preparations for 'Debris Collector' Molze." Aokiji smiled politely. "If you two Scum-of-the-Ocean would like to follow me this way, your fellow Scum are waiting inside."

"Before we were the Royal Shichibukai, now we're Scum-of-the-Ocean?" Deroy snickered. "I love this place... Kishakshakshak!"

* * *

When Aokiji, Molze and DeRoy reached the meeting hall, it was already ablaze with arguments.

"*clank* Why do those two get off so lightly!" One of the Shichibukai was yelled. "*clank* We were all ordered to turn up here, in person, or else our status would be revoked!"

**Royal Shichibukai: Tobias 'Scorpion Armour' Krieg**

**Former Bounty: 255,000,000**

Krieg was a huge man, with the same sort of body mass as Molze. However, unlike Molze, Krieg was wearing a huge set of golden armour, which covered most of his body. He also had a golden helmet, several sizes too big, which clanked around every time he talked.

"As I've already explained, my master is... uncomfortable leaving his casino." A man answered, nervously.

**Assistant to Royal Shichibukai, 'Gambler' Roulerre: 'Luck Reader' LeBlouff**

**Former Bounty: 95,000,000 **(LeBlouff, not Roulerre)

LeBlouff was a small, timid man compared to most of the Shichibukai. He wore a long, brown coat and always seemed to be fidgeting with it.

"My Empress feels very much the same way." A woman nodded in agreement.

**Assistant to Royal Shichibukai 'Empress' Cerie: 'Black Rose' Tharrina**

**Former Bounty: 179,000,000**

Unlike LeBlouff, Tharrina didn't seem intimidated by the other Shichibukai. She was a young, tall woman with long black hair and pair of thin-rimmed glasses. She was dressed in a ankle-length, black skirt and had a long, white katana sat on her leg.

"It's fine." Fleet Admiral Vires sighed, with the weary look of a man trying to hold the world together. "I wasn't expecting Roulerre or Cerie to appear anyway."

"*clank* W-Well I object!" Krieg stuttered. "*clank* Sanroza, you agree with me, right?!"

"..." The young woman sat on the windowsill didn't answer.

**Royal Shichibukai: 'Worlds 2nd Strongest Swordfighter' Sanroza Mihawk**

**Former Bounty: 270,000,000 **

Sanroza Mihawk was slightly younger than 'Black Rose' Tharrina, but no less fearsome. She had short, messily chopped, brown hair, hidden underneath a large, white cap. She dressed in simple brown trousers, with a plain white shirt. On her belt were three thin scabbards.

"*clank* Come on Sanroza!" Krieg urged. "*clank* Say something!"

"...I honestly don't care." Sanroza finally answered. "But if you continue referring to me by my first name, I will cut you down where you stand."

"*clank* Oh, are we doing this?!" Krieg growled, getting to his feet. "*clank* Come on, you stuck-up sword brat!"

Sanroza also got to her feet and drew one of her katana.

However, before the two could fight, another two figures appeared between them. The first was holding what seemed like a shard of glass to Sanroza's neck.

"Come on then." He sighed. "You pirates ruined my weekend. The least you can do is let me gut one of you."

**Admiral Kizaru (formerly Ceras)**

Kizaru had a similar build to Aokiji and wore an identical, yellow suit. He also had a large pair of sunglasses covering his face.

The second figure had grabbed Krieg's head with his enormous hands.

"Calm yourself Kizaru." He mumbled, quietly. "We must resist personal temptations today."

**Admiral Akainu (formerly Gantz)**

Akainu dwarfed over everyone in the room, even Molze and Krieg. You could be almost be forgiven for thinking he was of giant blood, or at least half-giant. Like his fellow admirals, Akainu wore a large suit, this time dark-red.

"Yeah yeah." Kizaru sighed. "It's still a pain."

"Thank you Kizaru and Akainu." Fleet Admiral Vires nodded. "You may stand down now."

The two Admirals nodded, returning to their original positions by the doors.

"Ah Aokiji." Vires became aware of the three's presence. "And two more Scum-of-the-Seas. Please take a seat."

"What a warm welcome." DeRoy grinned, taking a seat at the large meeting table. "Kishakshakshak!"

"This better not take long." Molze growled, sitting in a particularly large, diamond encrusted chair, which had specifically been built for him and whose makers had guaranteed to be 'indestructible'. A relative term where the Shichibukai were involved. "If I'm left waiting, I get the urge to smash things!"

Immediately, the three Admirals moved to restrain him.

"That's not necessary, gentlemen." Vires sighed. "This room has already been 'Debris Collector' proofed."

The Admirals returned to their positions.

"I'm sure you won't have to wait long." Vires continued. "I believe we're only waiting for K now."

"Actually, I've been here for a while." A voice suddenly sounded, startling Molze.

**Royal Shichibukai: 'Black Spot' K**

**Former Bounty: 520,000,000**

There wasn't much you could say about K. It wasn't that he had little presence. It was that he had no presence whatsoever which, in some ways, made him more terrifying than anyone else in the room. He was smaller than anyone else in the room and wore a large black cloak which concealed his body and most of his face.

"Gwaah!" Molze screamed, crashing through the back of his 'indestructible' chair "When the hell did you get here?!"

"So much for 'Debris Collector' proofed..." Aokiji muttered under his breath.

"I arrived here before any of you." K answered, in a quiet voice. "No-one noticed me, so I just took a seat and waited."

"Very well then." Vires attempted to hide his embarrassment at not noticing K. "If all the Shichibukai, and their stand-ins, are here then we'll begin this meeting."

"I will begin by bringing up the main topic of today's meeting." Vires began, slamming a bundle of Wanted Posters onto the desk. "I'm sure you've all heard of the new Supernovas?"

"Eh, that bunch of rookies from the North Blue?!" DeRoy grinned. "Surely they can't be the main reason for all this? Kishakshakshak!"

"*clank* Never heard of them." Krieg admitted.

"Me neither." Molze agreed.

"I've heard of them." LeBlouff took a look at one of the wanted posters. "Never paid much attention to them. Just headstrong rookies, right?"

"I have detailed factfiles on all thirteen of them." Tharinna answered, without even looking at the posters."

K muttered something quietly under his breath, but no-one paid any attention.

"I don't bother looking at the weak." Sanroza sighed.

"That's a bit harsh!" DeRoy chuckled. "After all, isn't one of them your little brother? Kishakshakshak!"

Sanroza shot DeRoy a deadly gaze.

"I have no brother." She growled, with icy tones.

"Settle down, please." Vires sighed. "As you all know, the North Blue has always been the most difficult of seas on which to enforce justice. Compared to the much more docile East Blue, the North Blue has always been a hot spot for strong rookie pirates."

"But weren't Gold Roger and Straw Hat Luffy both from East Blue?" DeRoy pointed out. "Not to mention our own Tobias Krieg. Doesn't seem very docile to me. Kishakshakshak!"

"As I was saying..." Vires gave DeRoy an angry glare before continuing. "North Blue has always been a hot spot for strong rookie pirates, many of whom become great problems when they reach the Grand Line. Remember Basil Hawkins, X. Drake and Trafalgar Law? Not to mention, three of the infamous Yonkou. Even Molze, Roulerre and Sanroza Mihawk are all from there too, I believe."

"That's correct." LeBlouff nodded.

"I guess." Molze scratched his back, which currently had a large chair stuck to it. "I don't remember stuff like that too well."

"..." Sanroza didn't answer.

"Indeed." Vires sighed. "Because of the strength of North Blue pirates, the average bounty is normally 15,000,000 beri, more than for any other ocean, aside from the Grand Line, of course. However, in recent weeks, thirteen new pirates have come to the public's attention."

Everyone's eyes moved to the small pile of wanted posters in the middle of the table.

"I'm sure you've all guessed whom I'm talking about?" Vires raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "The New Supernovas. All thirteen of these pirates have achieved bounties of 20,000,000 beri, or over, in the past few weeks. And four of them aren't even Captains! Originally, we only had seven to deal with, but six more pirates have received bounty increases and are being hailed as Supernovas as well! The strongest, 'Cloaked Tiger' Kuurant currently has a record-breaking 62,000,000 bounty after his horrific destruction of three heavily-populated towns! Even the presumed weakest of the original seven, 'Mad Emperor' Ushio D. Neptune, has just received a large boost in his bounty after defeating a high profile Marine Captain and joining forces with two other recently promoted Supernovas!"

"Wasn't that high profile Captain corrupt though?" DeRoy asked. "You know, was executing random civilians and generally running a reign of terror?"

Vires ignored him.

"Our sources tell us that all thirteen are likely to enter the Grand Line at about the same time." He continued. "And here's what I want you to do. Each of you is to hunt down and eliminate one of the New Supernovas each, and their crews. That should be a big enough deterrent for any other rookie pirates believing they can imitate legends of the past!"

"*clank* Do we look like your own personal lapdogs?" Krieg growled. "*clank* Why doesn't the World Government go after its own problems?"

"Because we already have our hands full in the New World!" Vires growled. "I'll tell you what you already know. We Marines consider you all a bunch of untrustworthy scum. That's the way it was in the past and the way it always shall be. However, we have to acknowledge your power, especially now when your bounties are higher than they've ever been before. My predecessors were afraid of your power and tried to keep you hidden away until they really needed it, like in the Whitebeard War. The result? You were all running wild, defecting and plotting against us. As the strongest Fleet Admiral this Government has ever seen, I say no more! You will obey our commands or you will be stripped of your privileges and hunted down like dogs! Now, I have no intention of getting you to obey our commands 24/7. That'd be impossible. Instead, I will set you tasks like this, to hunt down potential rookie pirates, every few months, and that'll be the end of it. Do you all understand?"

There was silence for a moment.

"Fine." DeRoy shrugged. "It might be kinda fun."

"*clank* It's a waste of my resources..." Krieg snarled. "*clank* But I'll do it anyway."

"I have no qualms with this..." Sanroza muttered under her breath.

"Neither do I." Tharinna nodded.

"I'll have to check with the master..." LeBlouff looked nervous. "But it should be okay..."

"As long as I can smash something, I don't care!" Molze growled.

K muttered his agreement, but no-one had really noticed he was still there, so it went unheard.

"Good." Vires allowed himself a rare smile. "Now we can move onto the meatier topic of today's meeting. The Yonkou..."

* * *

Outside, the four marines who guarded the door talked among themselves.

"What do you think they're discussing in there?" The first asked.

**The Marines Five Beasts: Vice Admiral Garest**

Garest was a short, slightly hunched-over man. He was also the youngest of the Five Beasts and the most talkative.

"That is not for us to know." The second sighed.

**The Marines Five Beasts: Vice Admiral Doragon**

Doragon was much taller, bulkier man. He also had the second-best physique of the Five Beasts, second only to Minos. He was also considered the most handsome of the Five Beasts, but the rest had kept that fact from him.

"I know." The third shrugged, throwing potato chips into his fat mouth. "I peeked at Fleet Admiral Vires's preparation notes."

**The Marines Five Beasts: Vice Admiral Kakarine**

Kakarine was very fat. Little surprise, considering he ate potato chips most of the day. Despite that, he was considered an effective, albeit easy-to-hit, fighter.

The fourth marine just stood in silence.

**The Marines Five Beasts: Vice Admiral Roman**

Roman was a huge man, easily the tallest of the Five Beasts. However, he very rarely talked... or did anything for that matter, except stand about. Many times had he accidentally been mistaken for a statue by a visiting ambassador or new recruit or even a couple of pigeons. Some weren't even sure he could speak, or even knew what was going on around him. Those who'd seen him fight, knew differently though.

"You looked through the Fleet Admiral's notes?" Doragon sighed. "That's a punishable offence, Kakarine."

"But you've nothing to prove it." Kakarine shrugged. "Garest and Roman won't rat me out, will you?"

"Nope!" Garest grinned. "Now tell me what they're discussing!"

Roman simply stayed silent, as always.

Doragon just shrugged and gave up.

"Now, obviously they're gonna be talkin' about 'Anarchist' Jeremiah." Kakarine explained. "After all, he's the new head of the revolutionaries and all that jazz. But I've heard the main topic of the meeting are North Blue's New Supernovas."

"New Supernovas?" Garest scratched his head. "They sound familiar..."

"They should." Kakarine snorted. "They're probably gonna be the big hitters of the next generation, unless we do something to stop them. Now what where their names...? Hang on! I've got a list!"

Kakarine pulled out a scrumpled bit of paper.

"Here they are! The Thirteen New Supernovas!"

**'Cloaked Tiger' Kuurant**

**'Spiced Gentleman' Chiffry Shill**

**'Drunken Fist' Elways Vodska**

**'Chewing Clown' Gummy Cerish**

**'Legend's Child' Ichiya Mihawk**

**'Wild Seed' Sophia Violettes**

**'Hundred Arms' Krishin Limbosa**

**'Noodle King' Nerras Wanze**

**'Poison Lion' Couralle**

**'Straight Man' Rawn Jeffries**

**'Devil's Blade' Tsurugi**

**'Magic Sniper' -**

The last name was badly smudged, so they couldn't read it. However, there was a bigger issue to take care of...

"Er... hate to rain on your parade, Kakarine..." Garest scratched his head. "But there are only twelve names on this list."

"Really?" Kakarine began to search his pockets wildly. "A bit must've fallen off!"

"Wasn't there that one who recently got a bounty increase." Doragon pointed out. "One which Minos himself suggested? You know, the one who joined forces with those two others?"

"So you really are interested in all of this!" Garest sniggered.

"N-No!" Doragon looked embarrassed. "I just felt it logical to know one's future enemies.

"He's right though." Kakarine stuck his finger in his mouth and came out with a blob of ink. "and I've just remembered the missing guy."

**'Mad Emperor' Ushio D. Neptune**

* * *

Tell was having a nice nap. A lovely nap. The best nap he'd had in ages. So when Ushio slammed the door open, Tell already had a feeling something was wrong.

"What is it?" He groaned, in a half-awake state.

"Well... um..." Ushio seemed nervous. "I know you said we shouldn't wake you under any circumstances, but this seemed kinda important..."

"What is it?" Tell sighed.

"We may have accidentally capsized the boat..."

…

…

...

"What?!"


	12. Arc 3: The New Supernovas

_**Chapter 11: Meet the Supernovas Part 1! Arrival in a New Town!**_

"Now I'm going to put this in a very calm and civilised way..." Tell sighed, massaging his temples. "What the hell did you idiots do to the boat?!"

The boat in question was now taking on a lot of water, mostly due to a large hole in the hull. The crew was currently bailing as much water as they could over the side, but it was a futile effort. So Tell had devoted his efforts to finding someone to blame.

Ushio, Yura and Tsurugi looked at each other suspiciously before yelling-

"He/She did it!"

"I don't care who did it..." Tell lied. "I just want to find out what happened."

"Well... Tsurugi was showing us her sword and we wanted to test how strong it was..." Yura began, having been elected spokesperson of the three. "So we stuck it in the hull of the boat and me and Ushio took it in turns to hit it with a hammer and-"

"Okay, I get the idea..." Tell sighed. "Ushio and Yura I would've expected this from, but you Tsurugi? I thought you were at least mildly sane!"

"I'm... sorry." Tsurugi didn't consider herself massively attached to the Neptune Pirates, but she still felt the need to apologise. "I did manage to save my sword though."

"Oh, well that's okay then." Tell sighed, sarcastically. "Ushio and Tsurugi, keep bailing out water. Yura, do you know how far until we reach land?"

"Hang on, I found some useful maps in Verate Town." Yura unfurled an old seachart and placed it on one of the few areas of the ship which was actually dry. "Now this is the closest island and the one we're heading for. It's called Threshold Island"

He pointed to a small island on the map. Then, pausing a moment, he took a pen and drew a small X on a spot nearby.

"And what's that?" Tell asked, pointing at the X.

"That's where we capsize."

"Oh..."

* * *

**Nearby: Threshold Island**

A man looked through his telescope at the stricken ship. Or, to be more precise, the pirate flag fluttering from the mast.

"I-It's true!" He gasped. "The Neptune Pirates are here as well! T-That means all Thirteen..."

He ran off into the town shouting incomprehensible warnings.

* * *

"Come on guys! Just a little further!" Ushio yelled, from the top of the ship's mast.

The boat had now taken on so much water, that everyone had agreed bailing it out was a waste of effort. So instead they'd all climbed the mast and desperately prayed they'd somehow make it to land. And, surprisingly, it was working, despite the ship being pretty much underwater. They had almost made it to the pier!

"Please don't sink please don't sink please don't sink." Yura repeated to himself, screwing his eyes shut.

"Yura, we made it." Tell sighed, stepping onto the pier.

"Oh."

"Remember where we left the ship, everyone!" Ushio yelled, leaving the pier.

"Er..." Tell watched the last of the ship's mast finally disappear underwater with a gurgle. "I don't think we'll need to worry about that..."

As the group headed into town, they could hear people whispering around them. Among the whispers, Tell could hear the words 'Mad Emperor', 'Devil's Blade', 'Magic Sniper' and 'New Supernovas' being repeated a lot. Ushio just ate it up though.

"I don't know what it is about this town..." He chuckled. "But I love it here!"

"What's with all the commotion?" Tell wondered. "I know Ushio has a bounty on his head, but I didn't think people would be this surprised at the sight of him."

"Well, apparently all thirteen of the New Supernovas are gathered in this town today." Yura answered, reading a newspaper. "So that's probably why everyone is so jumpy."

…

"Where did you get that newspaper?" Tell asked.

Yura thought a moment.

"I don't know." He admitted. "I think I just picked it up somewhere. Ahahaha!"

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Tell snatched the paper out of his hands. "Here, let me take a look."

He opened the paper and began studying it carefully.

"What does it say?" Ushio asked. "Anything about me?"

"We only arrived in town a few minutes ago." Tell pointed out. "I really doubt there's anything about y- Oh wait, there is! Wow, the printing agency in this town is ridiculously fast!"

"Never mind that!" Ushio snatched the paper. "I wanna see the stuff about me! Hey! There I am! And Tsurugi's there as well!"

"A swordswoman shouldn't care about such trivialities." Tsurugi less-than-subtly peeked over Ushio's shoulders to check. "Hey, I am! Wait, what are the New Supernovas?"

"Ahahaha! You're kidding, right?" Yura laughed. "You don't know who the New Supernovas are? Don't you guys read the news?"

"I don't bother reading newspapers when I could be training." Tsurugi shrugged.

"I spent the last few years in a backwater town, so we didn't get many newspapers." Tell shrugged.

"And I just don't read stuff." Ushio shrugged in unison.

"So let me get this straight..." Yura sighed. "I used to live in the sky... yet I'm more up to date with modern-day affairs than you three."

"Pretty much." The three nodded.

…

"Ahahahaha!" Yura burst out laughing. "That's so weird!"

"Especially considering you're an idiot..." Tell made a mental note to order more newspapers. Someone reliable needed to take care of these things... "So who are the New Supernovas?"

"They're a bunch of North Blue Rookie Pirates, with bounties over 20,000,000." Yura explained. "Originally, there were only seven, but six more have earned the title."

"Hey, isn't my bounty 20,000,000?!" Ushio realised. "That means I must be one of the Supernovas!"

"Actually, your bounty's currently 32,000,000." Yura corrected. "You got an increase for beating Captain Stacean. In fact, all of us did. So yeah, you're one of the Supernovas. So's Tsurugi, in fact. She's just got her first bounty of 21,000,000. Isn't that cool! We have two Supernovas in our crew! Ahahahaha!"

"I have no interest in such trivial matters." Tsurugi sighed, trying not to show how heavily she was blushing.

_'She's really happy about that...'_ Everyone else thought at once.

"Wait, so that means I must also be a Supernova, right!" Tell realised. "After all, I am the First-Mate of the Neptune Pirates!"

"Well... um..." Yura scratched his head, awkwardly. "It's kinda hard to explain... but... er... kinda... Ahahaha..."

"What do you mean, kinda?" Tell looked at him suspiciously.

"Um..."

"What about you, Yura?" Ushio interrupted. "What's your bounty?"

"1,000,000,000." Yura answered bluntly.

"You're obviously lying!"

"Shouldn't his bounty be in that newspaper?" Tell realised. "Ushio, look it up!"

"No, wait! Don't!" Yura tried to claw the paper away from Ushio, but was restrained by Tell and Tsurugi. "Don't look!"

"'Cowardly Cabin Boy' Yura." Ushio read out. "'Bounty: 200."

"_**Let me curl up here and die..." **_Yura grumbled, lying on the ground.

"Get up." Tell gave him a friendly kick. "I want to hear about the rest of these Supernovas. Especially me."

"Pfft, I don't." Ushio shrugged. "Why would I want to know about a bunch of guys who are weaker than me?"

"Bold words, 'Mad Emperor'..." A voice suddenly sounded. "But can you back them up?"

Suddenly, out of the crowd, a young man leapt at Ushio wielding a nodachi (two handed blade). Without breaking a sweat, Ushio blocked the blow with his staff. Immediately, Tell drew his gun and pointed it at the man's head, while Tsurugi pressed her katana at his throat.

"Heh!" The guy grinned. "I guess you're not all talk after all."

"T-T-That man!" Yura gasped. "I-It's-!

**New Supernova: 'Spiced Gentleman' Chiffry Shill**

**Captain of the Spice Pirates**

**Bounty: 55,000,000**

Chiffy Shill was a thin young man, around the same age as Ushio. He had neatly groomed red hair and an impeccable white suit. He also had an odd, spicy scent about him.

"Glad to know I have a reputation." Shill smiled politely. "But don't drop your guard so easily. **Red Wind!**"

Suddenly, he threw some sort of red dust into Tell and Tsurugi's faces. Both collapsed to the ground, clutching their faces in pain and coughing violently. Tell, in obvious pain, tried to shoot Shill, but whatever had hit him was clouding his vision, and he missed. In a swift movement, Shill knocked the gun out of Tell's hand, with his sword, and moved to slash him, when-

"**Neptune Lance!"**

Gathering a small amount of water to the end of his staff, Ushio thrust it into Shill's stomach, knocking him backwards.

"I must admit, that was an impressive move." Shill grinned, winded. "At least some other Supernovas live up to their reputation. I don't particularly want to get into a large fight before the race, so I'll let you off."

With that, he sheathed his sword and walked away.

"What was that all about?" Tell wondered, rubbing his eyes. The effects of the red dust appeared to be wearing off.

"Who knows?" Ushio shrugged. "He smells really nice, though. Makes me hungry. Let's go get food!"

"Sounds like a great plan!" Yura nodded, emerging from his hiding place. "I've heard there are some really great restaurants near here!"

"None of which we can afford..." Tell pointed out.

"Never stopped me in the past!" Ushio grinned. "Let's go!"

"Fine, fine." Tell sighed. He turned to Tsurugi. "You coming?"

"Can you hear that?" Tsurugi was looking off into the distance.

"What?"

"There's some sort of commotion going on down there." Tsurugi explained.

"Probably best just to ignore it." Tell shrugged. "The last thing we need is to get into another fight."

"I guess..." Tsurugi took one last look into the distance, before following the rest of the group.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Threshold Town's East Shopping District, hundreds of people were wandering around the shops, admiring the many products on sale, eating ice cream and generally enjoying themselves.

Then, a man suddenly crashed through a wall, into the street.

**New Supernova: 'Heavy Drinker' Elways Vodska**

**Captain of the Whisky Pirates**

**Bounty: 54,000,000**

Elways was a middle-aged man dressed in an old, ripped, grey tracksuit. He looked quite dishevelled, with untidy, black hair and a short, untrimmed beard. He had several half-drunk bottles of whisky on his belt.

"*hic* Hey, what wash that fuur?!" He slurred, getting to his feet. "I only wand to shee whatsh behind that cloak!"

Another man stepped through the hole Elways had made in the wall.

**New Supernova: 'Cloaked Tiger' Kuurant**

**Captain of the Cloak Pirates**

**Bounty: 62,000,000**

As his name suggested, Kuurant was wearing a huge, brown cloak which covered his entire body. Underneath his cloak, Kuurant wore a large, painted tiger mask over his face. Not even a bit of his skin could be seen.

"You dare attack me, mortal human!" He growled. "You are mere scum, compared to my strength!"

As if to demonstrate this, he tore off a huge chunk of the wall and flung it at Elways, who deflected it with a well-aimed punch.

"I don't care if you conshider me shcum!" Elways continued to slur, swinging his fists randomly in the air. "I'm gonna... *hic* beat the crap out of you, ya schtupid fish-smelling jerk!"

The two leapt at each other, fists raised, when a figure jumped between them, blocked their blows.

**New Supernova: 'Straight Man' Rawn Jeffries **

**First-mate of the Whisky Pirates **

**Bounty: 22,000,000**

Rawn was an older man, dressed in a sharp black suit, which made him look a lot like a butler. He had posh, white gloves on, which were ripped apart by the dual attack, yet he somehow managed to divert their attacks away from each other and into nearby debris. He gave a sigh and fished another pair of gloves out of his pocket, before slipping them on.

"I apologise for my Captain's rudeness." He bowed politely to Kuurant. "But I'd appreciate it if we could keep hostilities to a minimum until the race begins."

Kuurant thought for a moment, before relaxing his stance.

"Fine." He turned to leave. "But remember that I've killed for much less than this."

"*hic* Good job Jeffriesh!" Elways leapt at Kuurant. "You dishtract the guy and I'll floor him!"

"Not now, sir." Jeffries grabbed Elways's collar before he could attack and began dragging him away. "We don't need to get into another pointless fight."

"That's a shame!" A voice suddenly sounded out. "I was enjoying that! Shushushushu!"

Jeffries turned to see a young boy sitting on a nearby rooftop.

**New Supernova: 'Chewing Clown' Gummy Cerish**

**Captain of the Gummy Pirates**

**Bounty: 48,000,000**

Cerish was very young, about the same age as Yura, but he had a mischievous aura around him. He wore a brightly-coloured T-Shirt and shorts, with a chequered pattern on. He also had a bright yellow cap covering his straw hair. He was currently blowing a large bubble with his gum.

"I apologise for the disappointment." Jeffries bowed. "I had no idea I was breaking up your 'entertainment'"

"My my, is the unflappable 'Straight Man' getting angry?" Cerish chuckled. "Shushushushu!"

"Not angry." Jeffries sighed. "Merely exasperated. Don't you have some poor innocent you should be manipulating right now?"

"Ooh, I really have got you angry!" Cerish chuckled. "Don't worry though, I've already set the seeds for plenty of fun in this town. By the way, your Captain escaped."

"Huh?" Jeffries looked at the scrap of cloth in his hand, where Elways used to be. "Sonova-!"

He ran off in search of his drunken captain.

"Today's gonna be a fun day..." Cerish chuckled.


	13. Arc 3: The Grand Dead End Competition!

_**Since my story got a ton of new fans since the last chapter (by which I mean one or two), I decided I should probably be polite and respond to some of the reviews I've been getting.**_

_**Tearhex: Thanks for the compliment! I can see where you're coming from with the ** point and I suppose it's just my writing style, really. And yes, feel free to send me an OC.**_

_**Epic Jac: Actually, I originally based him on Izaya Orihara, from Durarara, but I can definitely see the similarities to Loki, now that you mention it.**_

_**Sadaharu Chomper: You've heard of Jeeves and Wooster too? I don't watch it particularly much, but it's rare to see someone else who's seen it. However, the Vodska/Jeffries duo wasn't really based on the show. As far as I know, Wooster never got that drunk...**_

_**ShinigamiinPeru + DifferentKindofAsian: Thanks!**_

* * *

_**Chapter 12: Meet the Supernovas Part 2! The Grand Dead End Competition!**_

"Come on, Ushio!" Tell chanted. "Eat those noodles!"

"30 seconds left." The waiter informed them.

The group had come across a bargain restaurant selling a free jumbo noodle bowl, if the patron could finish it in 5 minutes... Tsurugi had wandered off, dismissing the idea as 'vulgar' and deciding she was going to do some shopping on her own. Yura seemed to have just vanished. Tell briefly entertained the idea that he'd been kidnapped, but decided he probably wasn't that lucky. Now he sat, watching Ushio scoff the last of the jumbo bowl, while the waiter timed him.

"Come on Ushio, stop chewing!" Tell yelled. "I didn't bring enough money for you to lose!"

In a last burst of speed, Ushio swallowed the last of the noodles and promptly collapsed, in a noodle filled stupor.

"Winner!" The waiter announced.

"Good job Ushio!" Tell grinned. "How are you feeling?!"

"_**My stomach is fusing with the noodles..." **_Ushio groaned.

"Yeah, great." Tell nodded. "Hey, what's with the commotion over there?"

He pointed at the other side of the restaurant, where a large crowd was gathering around one of the tables.

"Oh, someone over there's on his fifth bowl of jumbo noodles." The waiter explained.

"Fifth?!" Ushio looked like he'd throw up at just the thought of eating five bowls. "How?!"

At that moment, the door to the restaurant was kicked open and a man walking in, with a large sword on his back.

**New Supernova: 'Legend's Child' Ichiya Mihawk**

**Captain (and only member) of the Blade Pirates**

**Bounty: 42,000,000**

Ichiya was a young man, about the same age as Tsurugi. He had a fancy purple jacket, with black trousers and an impressive purple hat, with two white feathers inside. He had a large, cross-shaped sword on his back, very much like his father's sword.

"What's with that guy?" Tell wondered.

"Guy? Weird." Ushio appeared to be unable to say sentences of more than one word, thanks to the noodles. "Sword. Pretty."

"Yeah..."

Ichiya ignored the group and headed straight for the crowd at the other end of the restaurant. The crowd immediately parted to let him though and he was soon facing the young man sat at the table, who was still eating noodles calmly.

**New Supernova: 'Noodle King' Nerras Wanze**

**First-mate of the Spice Pirates**

**Bounty: 28,000,000**

Nerras was slightly older than Ichiya and wore a white cloak, with long sleeves. He had messy, long hair, carelessly dyed red. There were several noodle stains down his front. He was surprisingly thin and muscular, considering how much noodles he appeared to eat.

"Can I help?" He asked, slurping down noodles.

"I'm looking for your Captain." Ichiya told him, with a stoic face. "Where is he?"

"Dunno." Nerras shrugged. "He went off on his own, a while ago. I'll tell him you were looking for him."

"Not good enough." Ichiya growled, pulling up a seat. "I will wait for him."

"Suit yourself." Nerras shrugged. "Want noodles?"

"No."

"Good, because these are mine." Nerras continued shovelling noodles into his mouth. "This place is giving them away by the bucketload."

"You disgust me."

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Nerras shrugged. "I suppose you're just annoyed because your sword is too big to eat noodles with. That must really awkward to drag around, by the way. And it looks kinda stupid."

"Why you-!" Ichiya eye twitched. Suddenly, he kicked his chair away and drew his sword. "I was planning on waiting for your Captain, but I suppose you'll do as warm-up."

"Hang on, let me finish this bowl first." Nerras began to slurp the rest of his noodles down.

Ichiya, unsurprisingly, attempted to decapitate him. However, before he could swing his sword, Ichiya felt something wet and slimy wrap around his leg. Suddenly, he was yanked off balance and crashed into a table.

"Wha- What the-?!" Ichiya muttered, before he was sent flying across the room, smashing into a wall.

Nerra got to his feet, knocking his table away, only to reveal a long chain of... noodles emerging from his trouser legs.

"Don't underestimate me just because I'm not a Captain." Nerras grinned, drawing two small staffs, which looked suspiciously like chopsticks... "I'm the true successor of my Grandfather's Ramen Kenpo!"

"Impressive." Ichiya admitted, cutting his leg free and getting to his feet. "I suppose I shouldn't have taken you so lightly. I won't make that mistake again."

"Uh..." Tell watched the two, slightly worried. "Hey Ushio, do you feel like getting involved in this fight?"

"Noodles..." Ushio groaned. "Too... many... noodles..."

"My thoughts exactly." Tell grabbed his stricken captain and dragged him out of the restaurant.

Behind him, Ichiya and Nerras had exploded into a blur of steel and noodles.

"I hope Tsurugi hasn't gotten into any trouble." Tell sighed. "I don't care about Yura, but Tsurugi's somewhat useful..."

* * *

At that moment, Yura had an odd feeling Tell was insulting him. Then, he went back to being terrified. Somehow, he'd ended up lost in one of Threshold Town's 'seedier' districts.

"Ahahahaha..." He chuckled nervously. "I'm really lost..."

Suddenly, two burly men stepped in front of him, carrying a very familiar wanted poster...

"This you?" One growled, pointing at the poster.

"Um..." Yura was naturally scared by these men. "Well... yes, I suppose... Ahahaha..."

"Told you." The man nodded to his partner.

"Yeah." The other man looked slightly confused. "But why do we want 'im? His bounty is only 200. That won't even get us a decent meal."

"I've explained this!" The first man sighed. "We take this kid 'ostage, 'is crew come and rescue him. That way we get several 'igh-bounties at once."

"Oh..." The other man nodded furiously. "I get it now! There's just one thing..."

"What?"

"The kid's gone."

"Huh?"

The man turned, to find he was currently intimidating a small patch of air. Yura had ran away.

"Son of a-!"

* * *

"Don't look back, don't look back!" Yura repeated to himself as he ran for his life. "Oof!"

He slammed into the back of another large man, knocking himself to the floor.

"Hey brat." The man growled, turning to face Yura. "Watch where you're going."

"S-Sorry!" Yura got up to leave, but another man stopped him.

"Hey Burt!" The man realised. "Isn't this that kid that gum-chewin' boy told us about?"

"Hey, you're right!" Burt grinned. "That Neptune Pirates kid! We use him to lure the rest of them here! That's what the guy said!"

"Um..." Yura tried to edge away, but the men weren't having it. "I don't know who this gum-chewing guy is, but he sounds like a very untrustworthy person... Ahahahaha... You should probably just let me go. My crew don't care that much about me... Ahahaha..."

"Ernie, tie up the brat!" Burt grinned. "We're gonna be millionaires!"

Ernie advanced towards Yura, when suddenly something whipped around his neck and began to choke him.

"What the...?" Before Burt could react, something whipped around his throat as well. Yura managed to get a closer look. It appeared to be some sort of vine. A vine with lots of thorns...

"**Wild Rose Breaker!"**

Suddenly, something yanked on the vine and the two men were slammed to the ground, bleeding heavily from the neck.

A woman walked up to Yura, who turning green from the sight, and grabbed him.

**New Supernova: 'Wild Seed' Sophia Violettes**

**Captain of the Seed Pirates**

**Bounty: 32,000,000**

Sophia was a young woman, with a bandanna around her head and a pair of hooped earrings. She wore 'trendy' clothes, including jeans and a fancy green jacket, embroidered with her Jolly Roger.

"You!" She grabbed Yura by the collar and shoved his wanted poster into his face. "Is this you?!"

"Um..." Had Yura not been terrified, he might've said no, but this woman was really scaring him... "Y-Y-Yes, ma'am!"

"Do you know this man?!" Sophia thrust Ushio's wanted poster into his face. "Is he your Captain?!"

"Y-Yes!"

"Good." Sophia helped Yura up to his feet. "Take me to him."

"Well... er..." Yura wasn't sure how to put this." I... don't really know where he is..."

"You'd better find out soon, or I'm going to kill you." Sophia growled. "I'm going to get revenge on that man, for what he did to me..."

"...eep..."

* * *

From a nearby rooftop, Gummy Cerish watched the two and laughed to himself.

"Shushushushu!" He chuckled. "That turned out even better than I thought!"

He unwrapped another piece of gum and placed it in his mouth.

"Now, what next?" He thought a moment. "Ah yes, the 'odd lovers' should've gotten my letter by now! This should be fun..."

* * *

From a nearby street, a figure watched Cerish as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, in order to get to his next source of entertainment.

**New Supernova: 'Poison Lion' Couralle**

**First-mate of the Cloak Pirates**

**Bounty: 30,000,000**

Couralle, like his Captain, wore a long, black cloak which covered his entire body. He also wore a mask over his face, again like his Captain, except his was of a lion. He currently sat upon a small pile of badly beaten bounty hunters.

"So that human is responsible..." He muttered to himself. "How interesting..."

He clicked his fingers and three figures emerged from the shadows.

**Cloak Pirates: Arlecchi, Rasstar and Diabla**

**Bounty: 19,900,000 each.**

All three cloak pirates were dressed in the typical attire of their crew, a black cloak, with a clown mask, a 'moonface' mask and a devil mask respectively.

"So that guy was the one who told you to come here?" Rasstar realised. "Why?"

"Obviously to have us attacked." Arlecchi pointed out.

"Why?"

"Tch, because he's part of a scummy, lesser species." Diabla scowled. "We should wipe him and his kind of the face of the earth."

"There will be time for that later." 'Cloaked Tiger' Kuurant stepped out of the shadows. "My brothers, our new ship is all ready for the race. Filli and Swapier are guarding it now. How went your scouting? I've tested 'Drunken Fist' and 'Straight Man' and, separately, they are unlikely to cause us any trouble. While 'Drunken Fist' is strong, he's too dimwitted to stay on one target for too long. 'Straight Man', on the other hand, is intelligent, but lacks strength and wastes his time looking after his Captain. 'Spiced Gentleman', however, is one to look out for. We briefly clashed, and his skill is evident."

"I hear he's also been testing the strength of the Supernovas, like ourselves." Couralle nodded. "'I saw him duel 'Wild Seed'. She held her own quite well. However, the one we really need to look out for is 'Chewing Clown'. I don't know what he's planning, but I don't like it. What do you three have to report?"

"'Legend's Child' and 'Noodle King' had a fight." Arlecchi reported, snapping to attention. "It was pretty funny. I don't think we need to worry about them much, though."

"'Hundred Arms' just slept all day, like the inferior scum his species is." Diabla scowled. "'Chewing Clown' delivered a note at his windowsill though. I don't know what it means."

"That just leaves 'Devil's Blade', 'Magic Sniper' and 'Mad Emperor'." Couralle nodded. "Rasstar, what have you got to report."

"I just went drinking." Rasstar shrugged.

…

"Fine." Kuurant sighed. "I doubt we have to worry about Ushio D. Neptune and his crew. I'm sure they won't be trouble..."

* * *

"The Grand Dead End Competition?" Ushio scratched his head. "Never heard of it."

"Me neither, until just now." Tell shrugged, flicking through the newspaper. "But apparently, it's the reason most of the Supernovas are gathered here."

Ushio had gotten over his noodle related... casualty after a short visit to the toilet. Tell wasn't sure how he'd done it but, judging from the scream the next guy uttered, when he entered the public bathroom, Tell was pretty sure he didn't want to know. In the meantime, Tell had found a nearby newspaper, in search of the reason Yura was being so cryptic about whether he was a Supernova or not. He was currently wondering how they'd managed to record the fight between Ichiya and Nerras so quickly, when he came across another article...

"So what is it?" Ushio asked.

"It's a race." Tell explained. "A race from here to the Grand Line. Apparently, it's based on the Dead End Competition in Partia, which Monkey D. Luffy himself took part in and won."

"A race?" Ushio looked interested. "Can pirates enter?"

"It was practically built for pirates." Tell shrugged. "Anything goes, as long as you get to the finish."

"And the finish is...?"

"Reverse Mountain." Tell explained. "It's the very large mountain at the start of the Grand Line."

"What about the prize?"

"150,000,000"

"Wow..." Ushio grinned. "Alright then, I've decided! We're going to enter this race and win!"

"No we're not." Tell cut him down immediately.

"Huh?"

"We can't go the Grand Line yet." Tell pointed out. "We've only got four members in our crew. We need a navigator, a chef, a shipwright, a doctor-"

"Don't exaggerate." Ushio scoffed. "Monkey D. Luffy entered the Grand Line with only 5 crew members. Besides, Yura's a good enough navigator."

"You're joking, right?" Tell chuckled. "You'd trust your life to that guy? I'm convinced he's only been right so far due to dumb luck!"

"Well, at least he's lucky." Ushio shrugged. "Where is he anyway?"

"No idea." Tell shrugged. "He's probably fine though."

* * *

"Keep moving!" Sophia growled. "If we don't find them in the next few hours, I'm cutting you open and hanging you from your own intestines!"

"...help me..."

* * *

"Totally fine..." Tell repeated. "Anyway, while I suppose I could take over chef duties-"

"You know how to cook?" Ushio asked skeptically.

"Yeah." Tell nodded. "My old sensei was a decent cook and taught me loads."

"Great!" Ushio grinned. "So if you're our cook, we can go to the Grand Line!"

"No we can't." Tell sighed. "Ushio, in case you hadn't noticed, we're missing something pretty important..."

"Of course!" Ushio realised. "A musician! But where would we find one...?"

"I wonder if Monkey D. Luffy's crew ever had to put up with this..." Tell wondered. "We need a ship, you idiot!"

"What's wrong with the one we're using now?"

"It's underwater."

"Minor detail." Ushio shrugged. "But, I suppose we could go find a new one."

"You say that as if it's easy..." Tell sighed. "We're completely broke and it's not like someone's gonna just come along and offer us a free boat, out of the blue."

"Hey you!" At that moment, a young man with flame-red hair, ran up to the two. "Would you like a free boat?!"

…

"Sometimes, I think God does this on purpose, just to annoy me..." Tell sighed.


	14. Arc 3: The Hyperactive Shipwright, Rio!

_**Chapter 13: Meet the Supernovas Part 3! The Hyperactive Shipwright?!**_

**A few minutes earlier**

"For the last time, no." Donovan looked at his young apprentice and sighed. "You can't go and watch the race."

"Why not!" Rio, his apprentice, scowled. "It'll be fun! Besides, I'll get to see my ships!"

"You have too much work to do." Donovan massaged his temples. "Have you finished the work on that ship you were building?"

"The new ship?" Rio shrugged. "I finished that last week."

"Then get to work on the next one." Donovan growled. "And don't bother me asking about stupid races."

Donovan was the head of a small shipwright guild on Threshold Island. While Donovan himself was too humble, and stingy, to say so, they were considered one of the best shipwright guilds on the Island. Donovan, himself, was an old, grizzled man, with a thick grey beard and a wrinkled face. He was known for being one of the toughest men on the island, who wrestled grizzly bears and ate nails. That wasn't a joke. He literally ate nails. He stuck a couple in his mouth, in the morning, and slowly they dissolved away in his mouth, over the day. His workers didn't know where he'd come from, or anything about his past and that was the way he liked it. As such there were plenty of rumours around. Some said he used to be a pirate. Some said he'd even met Monkey D. Luffy briefly. Some said he'd killed a dragon, only using 3 fingers and a toenail. Some said the reason he'd lived so long was that Death was too terrified to collect him.

His apprentice Rio, on the other hand, was a completely different story. Found abandoned on the doorstep, when he was just a baby, Donovan had practically raised him. He was easily recognised by his long, flame-red hair, held back in a brown headband. He was also known for being headstrong, boastful and never one to back down from a fight. Which often put him at odds with the stubborn Donovan. Such as now.

"I don't see what the big deal is!" Rio yelled. "It's just a race!"

"Then why are you so insistent on seeing it?" Donovan asked.

"Because I want to see my ships!" Rio growled.

"You've already seen them plenty of times, while building them." Donovan pointed out.

"That's not what I mean..." Rio scrunched up his fists in anger. "Alright then, how about this! If I can beat you in a fight, I can go and see the race!"

"Fine." Donovan shrugged, hammering away at a piece of wood. "But if you lose, you're fired."

"Huh?"

"You heard me." Donovan fixed him with a deadly glare. "If you lose, you have to leave this company and never return. Do you still want to fight?"

"..."

"I thought not." Donovan turned back to his work when-

"I'll do it!" Rio finally worked up the courage to say.

"Fine then." Donovan sighed, cracking his knuckles.

* * *

**Three Minutes Later**

"The winner is Donovan!" The shipwright, who they'd hired as a referee, announced.

"Hmph, you lasted two minutes longer than I expected." Donovan looked at the prone, bloody heap on the floor. "I was joking about you being fired, but get back to work and don't bother me with all this 'race' crap."

"Damn you... you old geezer..." Rio slowly dragged himself back to his feet. "Fine then. If you won't fire me... I quit!"

"No you don't." Donovan ignored him and began hammering a couple of nails into a loose plank of wood.

"Yes I do!" Rio yelled. "I have a right to quit! I can set up my own shipwright yard and survive on my own fine!"

"Do you really think you can survive on your own in the world?" Donovan gave him a stare.

"Yes."

"Then you're dumber than I thought." Donovan sighed. "If you want to quit, quit. You can take that new ship of yours as a leaving present. You have until the start of the race to decide. If you're not back here by then, you're fired anyway."

"Fine!" Rio stormed out of the building.

"Dumb boy." Donovan shook his head and sighed. "Dumb dumb boy..."

* * *

Rio stormed his way through the streets, scowling as he went. That damn old geezer! Why couldn't he go and see the race?! It's not like it was that big a deal! Maybe he really would quit! He could set up his own shipwright business and-!

Rio immediately shook that idea from his head. He'd seen how much it costed just to start a business, never mind make it as successful as Donovan. He'd need a huge amount of money. However, that didn't mean he couldn't become the shipwright on a pirate ship! That would pay well! Especially if he managed to join the crew of one of the new Supernovas! But where could he find one of them...

Suddenly, he overheard a nearby conversation.

"Ushio, in case you hadn't noticed, we're missing something pretty important..."

"Of course! A musician! But where would we find one...?"

Ushio?! As in Ushio D. Neptune, 'The Mad Emperor'?!

Rio moved in closer and spied, not only Ushio, but the Supernova 'Magic Sniper' talking nearby! The rumours of their alliance were true! He considered going in and asking them if he could join their crew, but he decided that would be a bit too weird. He considered offering them a free boat, but they probably already had one...

"We need a ship, you idiot!"

"What's wrong with the one we're using now?"

"It's underwater."

Rio could've cheered.

While Tell was ranting about how difficult it would be to find a new boat, Rio ran over and asked, "Hey you! Would you like a free boat?!"

…

…

…

The shocked silence seemed to last forever.

"Sometimes, I think God does this on purpose, just to annoy me..." Tell sighed.

"Sure!" Ushio grinned. "We'd love a free boat!"

"Great!" Rio grinned back. "I've got a cool new one you can have, if you promise me to do a few things!"

"Ah hah!" Tell suddenly laughed. "So it's not actually free! It may sound free, but these 'things' will end up costing more than the ship itself! It's a very clever con!"

"Really?" Ushio seemed impressed. "He doesn't look like a conman."  
"Obviously." Tell smiled, with the air of a professional. "Conmen don't exactly go around wearing jackets with 'I'm a conman printed on them."

"They don't?" Ushio scratched. "That's confusing..."

"I'm not a conman!" Rio growled, feeling angry. "Now do you want to hear what I have to say, or not."

"Fine, we might as well." Tell sighed.

"First, you have to enter the Grand Dead End Competition!" Rio explained.

"Fair enough." Tell agreed. "Ushio'd probably end up forcing us to take part anyway, in a rubber dinghy or something."

"How'd you guess my cunning plan?" Ushio asked.

"Second!" Rio ignored the two bickering. "You have to take me on as your crew's shipwright! And that's it."

"Ah hah!" Tell grinned, as if he'd hit on something. "You see! A con! He pretends to give us a free ship, when, in fact, he gives us a free ship and... his services as a shipwright... for free..."

The full depth of what Rio had said hit him, and he turned in surprise.

"Are you serious?"

"Yup!" Rio nodded. "Do you want to see the ship?"

"That'll be fun!" Ushio grinned. "A new ship and a new shipwright!"

"I'm convinced this has to be a dream..." Tell began pinching his cheek, before running off after the two. "Next thing we know, Tsurugi will have accidentally found a large pot of gold while out shopping..."

* * *

Much to her annoyance, Tsurugi hadn't been quite that lucky. She'd heard there was an excellent sword shop on the island and had run off to find it. After several hours of searching and asking directions from people who seemed to be terrified of her, she'd finally found it... only to find that Ichiya Mihawk had got there first. Apparently, he'd been challenging famous swordsmen on the island and... well... There really wasn't much left of the shop, or shopkeeper now...

"What do I do now...?" She wondered.

"Yoo~ooi!" A voice suddenly cried out. "What a beautiful girl you are!"

"Huh?"

Tsurugi turned to see a... really odd figure heading towards her.

**New Supernova: 'Hundred Arms' Krishin Limbosa**

**Captain of the Arm Pirates**

**Bounty: 36,000,000**

Krishin was dressed... rather weirdly. He was a rotund man dressed in bright red, old-fashioned samurai armour. He also had heavy amounts of make-up on his face, making him look like some sort of clown.

"Yoo~ooi!" He cried, bowing before her. "You are such a beautiful girl! No wonder we fell in love at first sight!"

…

"Huh?" Tsurugi wasn't sure whether she should be confused or annoyed. She guessed annoyed.

"I got your lovely, heart-filled note!" Krishin announced, pulling out a slip of paper.

**Dear Krishin!**

**I'm in love with you! Love! Love!**

**I've loved you since we first met! Love!**

**Please meet me at the old sword shop!**

**I'll be the one with short blue hair and a sword!**

**Love, your anonymous lover!"**

…

…

…

"Yeah, I'm quite sure I didn't write that..." Tsurugi sighed.

"Ehh~hei!" Krishin leapt back in surprise. "Have I been duped?! That makes me so angry! I shall dance in anger!"

He suddenly began dancing furiously, while Tsurugi slowly backed away...

"Hold it right there, you two!" Another voice suddenly rang out.

Captain Isleague, Marine Captain of Threshold Island, stood with a small group of marines at his back.

"'Devil's Blade' Tsurugi and 'Hundred Arms' Krishin Limbosa!" Isleague loudly announced. "You are under arrest for piracy! Surrender now, or we will be forced to open fire!"

"Damn!" Tsurugi turned to run, but Krishin knocked her over, in his own attempt to escape.

"Yoo~ooi!" He screamed, dashing down the street. "I'm too handsome to go to jail!"

"That bastard!" Tsurugi growled, trying to get her feet, when she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Obviously her wounds from fighting Captain Stacean hadn't healed yet. Before she could do anything else, she found several guns pointed at her head.

'Don't move!" Isleague growled. "You're the one Vice Admiral Minos wants so much aren't you? Put your hands in the air. You're under arrest."

Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot reverberated around the street, and a marine collapsed to the ground, clutching a bullet wound. Then another! And another!

"Take cover!" Isleague yelled, diving behind a nearby barrel. His soldiers followed his example, sprinting for cover, leaving Tsurugi in the middle of the street, wondering what was going on.

"Up here, sweetie!" A voice sounded out.

Tsurugi turned to see a figure sitting casually on a rooftop. A very familiar figure... or so she thought.

"Tell?" She asked, surprised.

"My darling, I can be whoever you want me to be." The figure jumped down and landed next to her.

**New Supernova: 'Magic Sniper' Brurrage Seraphin**

**Captain (and only member) of the Sniper Pirates**

**Bounty: 29,000,000**

Seraphin looked... well, almost identical to Tell. Similar clothes, similar hairstyle, similar build, everything. However, there were some slight differences. Seraphin wasn't wearing any sunglasses, and his jacket was slightly more fancy and expensive. He also had a larger gun than Tell, a rifle that he'd strapped to his back.

Tsurugi stared at him for a few minutes.

"Nope, you're not him." She finally decided, heading off.

"Wa-Wait!" Seraphin ran to intercept her, grabbing her by the shoulder. "Aren't you going to thank me, for saving you?"

"... Fine, thank you." Tsurugi tried to get past. "Now let me through!"

"Oh, I see!" Seraphin chuckled. "You're obviously overwhelmed by my presence and are so embarrassed, you feel you need to escape! I understand."

"No." Tsurugi's eye twitched. "I'm trying to get back to my crew..."

"In which case, I'd be honoured to escort you there!" Seraphin smiled.

"Please don't..."

"It's no trouble!" Seraphin laughed, oblivious to Tsurugi's barely suppressed anger. "It's the least I can do for an admirer!"

"A... what?"

"Well, didn't you send me this letter?" Seraphin reached into his pocket, pulled out a note and passed it to Tsurugi, taking great care to caress her hand.

Tsurugi resisted the urge to break it and read the note

**Dear Seraphin!**

**I'm in love with you! Love! Love!**

**I've loved you since-"**

"Dammit!" Tsurugi swore, tearing the letter to pieces. "Who keeps sending these things?!"

"So you don't 'love love' me?"

"Tell! Tsurugi!"

Before Tsurugi could answer, Seraphin was struck by what seemed like a small cannonball.

"Oh thank God I found you guys!" Yura sobbed, holding Seraphin's chest tightly. "There's this really scary woman who's going to kill me!"

"Who the hell are you?" Seraphin got to his feet, pushing the sobbing Yura away. Suddenly, some sort of large tree, in the shape of a hand, slammed into him, trapping him against a wall.

"So, you're Neptune's first mate?!" Sophia growled. "Tell me where your worthless Captain is, so I can kill him!"

The large, tree-like thing that had slammed into Seraphin appeared to be growing from her arm.

"Wait, what?!" Seraphin was confused. "But I'm my own worthless Captain!"

"Don't lie to her Tell!" Yura gasped. "Or she'll kill us both!"

"Who's Tell?"

"I don't have time to listen to your whining!" Sophia snarled. "Tell me where your Captain is! Now! I want Ushio D. Neptune!"

"But I'm the Captain!" Seraphin protested. "And I don't care about this Ushio guy!

"Eh?!" Yura was taken back. "You mean you finally usurped Ushio from the captaincy?! I had my suspicions, but I never thought you'd go through with it, you bastard!"

"So... Neptune's dead?" Sophia looked suspicious. And confused.

"I don't know what any of you are talking about!" Seraphin wailed. "I was just talking to this blue-haired chick and-"

"Of course, Tsurugi!" Yura grinned, turning to face the swordswoman. "Do you know where Ushio i-"

He found himself talking to empty air. Tsurugi was nowhere to be seen.

"Tsurugi?"

* * *

A short way away, Tsurugi stopped to catch her breath.

"Sorry Yura." She apologised. "But that was too weird."

She stretched a bit and began to continue her wanders when suddenly she spied a figure across the street.

"Are you 'Devil's Blade' Tsurugi?" The figure asked. "Swordswoman of the Neptune Pirates?"

"Yeah." Tsurugi moved her hand to her sword hilt. "Who's asking?"

"Good." Ichiya Mihawk smiled, drawing his sword. "Once I beat you, I'll be one step closer to achieving my goal..."


	15. Arc 3: Oh Cra-!

_**Chapter 14: Meet the Supernovas Part 4! Oh Cra-!**_

"So what do you think?" Rio grinned.

"It's... beautiful..." Ushio was almost drooling at the sight.

Rio had had their new ship brought into the harbour to admire. It was a large sailboat, made of fine, dark-brown wood. The mast was huge, with billowing, white sails and a small ladder leading up to the Crow's Nest. However, at the front of the ship, there was... an odd figurehead. It was a large white, animal-like head with droopy eyes and a odd smile. It had two paws, with claws on, lying lazily by its side. In fact, it looked a lot like a sloth.

"I have to admit, that looks pretty cool." Tell nodded. "I was expecting you to be conning us, and it to just be a small lifeboat, or something. But what's with the sloth?"

"Sloth?" Rio looked at him in confusion. "What sloth?"

"That one on the figurehead." Tell pointed out.

"Pfft. That's not a sloth." Rio snorted with laughter. "It's a Tomlinese White Tiger."

…

"No, it's definitely a sloth."

"It's not a sloth!" Rio growled, his face turning red with anger. "It looks nothing like a sloth! It's obviously a Rachina Cream Sabretooth!"

"Um, that's not what you called it before..."

"What's its name?" Ushio asked, changing the subject.

"Name?" Rio looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you have to name it something." Ushio shrugged. "It makes it cooler."

"You mean like 'Excalibur'?" Tell raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up."

"A name, huh?" Rio scratched his chin. "I'd never thought of that... Okay, how about we call it Super-Death-Inferno-Screaming-Last-Samurai-Death-Tiger-God?!"

…

"We'll work on the name..." Tell sighed. "How long until the race starts?"

"A couple of hours." Rio shrugged. "I suppose you guys'll need to pick up some supplies before we head off. There's a shopping district near here."

"Tsurugi and Yura aren't back yet." Ushio realised. "I hope they haven't gotten into trouble."

"Eh, I'm sure they'll be fine." Tell shrugged.

* * *

"Oh, I get it." Yura chuckled. "So you just happen to look identical to Tell! No wonder that newspaper article was so vague. Ahahahaha!"

"Yeah that makes sense." Seraphin nodded. "It's kinda weird to find that I apparently have a doppelganger."

"Yeah." Yura agreed. "It's really weird! Ahahaha!"

"Stop talking, both of you." Sophia growled.

"...sorry ma-am..."

Sophia, to make sure Yura didn't run off again, had tied his hands together to create a sort of leash to drag him around with. Seraphin, meanwhile, was still trapped in the large tree, which had formed a large hand around him. Sophia had decided to bring him along 'just in case'. In actuality, she was just so confused about the whole situation, she wasn't sure what to do.

"I hope Tsurugi's having a better time than I am..." Yura whimpered quietly.

* * *

She wasn't.

"**Single Sword Style: Kite Call!" **Tsurugi yelled, leaping through the air.

She brought her sword down, almost slicing through Ichiya's shoulder, but he dodged to the side, letting the sword sail past, before bringing his own sword up for a counterattack of his own.

"**Single Sword Style: Red Reaper!" **

Tsurugi barely managed to bring her sword up to deflect the blow, but it caught her off balance and sent her skidding across the street.

"You aren't half bad." Ichiya smirked. "Especially for a woman."

"Jerk." Tsurugi spat, trying not to let her pain show. Her injuries from fighting Stacean were beginning to reopen, but she couldn't back down now. "I haven't even gotten started yet."

"Your stubbornness will only get you killed." Ichiya said, looking down on her. "You're clearly outmatched."

"I'm not losing to some cocky wannabe." Tsurugi dragged herself to her feet.

Ichiya's face suddenly flashed with cold anger and he levelled his sword.

"You'll die for that remark."

* * *

"Yep, I'm sure they're all just fine..." Tell nodded. "Totally. Completely. Fine."

"You know, you don't need to keep repeating that." Ushio said.

"I'm just trying to convince myself..." Tell sighed. "Have we got all the supplies we need onboard yet?"

"Almost..." Rio groaned under the weight of the large barrel he was hauling onto the ship. "I still don't see why I have to do all the work."

"It's an initiation ceremony." Ushio lied. "We need to test to make sure you're strong enough to be on our crew."

"Oh, okay!" Rio brightened up and continued working.

"God, I can't believe he fell for that..." Tell sighed.

"Yeah. It seems like the kinda stupid thing _I'd_ fall for." Ushio nodded.

"Uh... yeah." A sudden thought came to Tell. "Hey, where'd you two get all these supplies anyway? I thought we were broke?"

"Rio called in some favours around town." Ushio explained. "Apparently, a lot of people owe him stuff."

"Oh." Tell nodded. "For a second, I thought you two might've just stolen them."

"Nah." Ushio chuckled. "That's the sort of thing a _pirate_ would've done!"

"Hahaha, yeah." Tell laughed. Suddenly, something caught his eye. "Hey Miss, you can't sleep there!"

He jogged over to a young woman who was just nestling down on the grass, to sleep, near where the crew's supplies were resting.

"Hmm?" The woman rubbed her eyes, sleepily. "Sorry about that. I haven't had much sleep lately and-" Her eyes suddenly burst open in shock, at the sight of Tell's face. "You?!"

With that, she raised her hand and gave Tell a piercing slap.

"I told you not to follow me around any more, you womanising jerk!" She yelled, before dashing off.

Tell felt his stinging face for a moment, before effectively summing up the situation.

"What the hell just happened?!"

Ushio chose that time to come running over with a cheeky grin on his face.

"So-"

"Not! One! Word!" Tell silenced him. "I'm still trying to figure out what just happened!"

"Obviously, one of the many women who you've womanised came back to wreak her vengeance." Ushio explained.

"Look, I'm not a womaniser!" Tell growled. "And it's not like I've got some identical twin running around who is!"

* * *

Meanwhile

"So listen, Sophia." Seraphin flashed the pirate a dazzling smile. "I know we haven't had a great start, but I'd really like to have a drink with you sometime. In fact, I know a great place near here where we can-"

"Say another word and I'm going to rip out your tongue." Sophia growled.

"Did I ever tell you how much I love assertive women?"

* * *

"Anyway, I suppose I should just put this out of my mind." Tell decided. "It's not like it's gonna come back to haunt me later, right? Right?"

…

Ushio just gave him a pitying look.

"Hey guys?" Rio suddenly interrupted, carrying a large barrel on his shoulders. "I just found this around the corner. Is it one of ours?"

"Eh, probably." Tell shrugged. "Just toss it onboard with the rest."

"Okay." Rio began carrying it up to the ship. "Feels strangely heavy, though."

"We're gonna need to start moving the ship around to where the race is starting soon." Ushio realised. "Reckon we should go and find Yura and Tsurugi?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Tell shrugged. "It's gonna take forever to find them in a town this big, though."

He then had to duck to narrowly avoid being decapitated.

Ushio quickly brought his staff up to deflect Ichiya Mihawk's attack, before kicking the swordsman in the ribs. Ichiya was sent skidding back and he quickly rolled to the side, to avoid a wild attack from Tsurugi.

"Hmph, so you need help from your crew now, Tsurugi?" He snarled, leaping to his feet.

"My crew are a bunch of sissies with the shared intelligence of a particularly dumb carrot." Tsurugi snarled back, completely oblivious to Ushio and Tell's presence. "Why would I need the-" She suddenly spotted the two of them. "Oh. Hey guys."

"Hey Tsurugi." The two chimed back.

"Whatever." Ichiya scowled, sheathing his sword. "I've already proven my superiority to you."

With that, he left.

…

"Well." Tell summed up the situation. "That was interesting."

"Who was that guy?" Ushio asked.

"Dunno. He just attacked me out of the blue." Tsurugi suddenly winced, holding her ribs. "I think my old wounds are starting to reopen."

"You should probably rest on the boat." Ushio advised.

"Isn't the boat underwater though?" Tsurugi pointed out.

"Nah, we got a new one." Ushio pointed to their grand, new ship. "What do you think?"

Tsurugi studied it for a moment. "Why is there a sloth on the front?" She asked.

"It's not a sloth!" A voice suddenly sounded and Rio could be seen from the ship railings. "It's a North Seracine Feathered Snake!"

"That's not even the right species..." Tell sighed.

"Who the hell are you?" Tsurugi growled.

"I'm Rio Donovan!" Rio growled back. "I'm the crew's new awesome Shipwright and-"

"Yeah, I don't care." Tsurugi interrupted, heading up the gangplank. "I'm just gonna go nap somewhere. Wake me and I'll kill you."

"Hey, I'll kill you right now for disrespecting my ship!" Rio snarled, following Tsurugi out of sight to the cabins.

...

"Well, they hit it off well." Tell sighed. "At least, now we have all our crew, we can head off to the race now."

"What about Yura?" Ushio reminded him.

"Meh, I'm all for ditching him." Tell shrugged. "I only get the feeling that we'll get into more trouble if we go looking for- umph!"

He was then hit in the back by a flying Yura.

"Ohmigod, Tell! Ushio!" Yura sobbed. "Thank god I found you! There's this psycho woman and-" He continued to spout panicked gibberish, while Ushio looked on with mild amusement.

"Hey Tell." Ushio grinned. "I found Yura."

He was then interrupted by the most horrific of snarls.

"_**You!"**_

Ushio turned, only to narrowly avoid being hit in the face by a flying Brurrage Seraphin. In front of him, Sophia Violettes stood, with an expression of pure fury on her face.

"_**Ushio D. Neptune!"**_ She growled in rage.

Ushio said the only thing that came to him at that moment.

"Sorry, have we met?"

* * *

Sophia Violettes had ran through the moment she would re-meet Ushio D. Neptune hundreds and hundreds of times. She thought she had guessed every single possible reaction he could have to her presence. Fear, anger, surprise, she had thought of it all. What she hadn't expected was for him to have absolutely no idea who she was. And it annoyed her.

It annoyed her a lot.

"_**Have... We... Met...?!" **_Her eye was twitching so much at this point, she was practically winking. **_"You ruined my life!"_**

Ushio looked back at her with a blank stare. "Nope, still not ringing a bell."

"Are you serious?!" Sophia face turned an interesting shade of purple. "You blew up my house! You beat up my crew! You got me arrested by the marines! You almost drowned me! Twice! And that was just the first time we met!"

Ushio continued looking at her blankly.

Sophia managed to get her overwhelming anger under control. "I... I was Crazy Seed Girl..."

"Oh! Crazy Seed Girl!" Ushio realised. "Well, why didn't you just say that in the first place! How've you been?"

"I've spent the last the last few years of my life hunting you down so I can kill you as slowly and painfully as possible." Sophia answered.

"Neat. So how's that working out for you?"

"Oh, it's about to get real fun in an second..." Sophia smiled, pulling a small seed from a pouch on her belt and slipping it into her mouth. "_Real_ fun..."

* * *

"Okay, listen Ushio." Tell gave his Captain a pat on the shoulder. "I don't quite know what all this is about, but I think you should deal with your personal issues by yourself, without dragging the rest of us into it with you."

"I agree!" Yura nodded furiously. "That woman is really scary!"

"Yep, so we'll just be leaving and-" Tell turned to go when, suddenly, a large hand, which had an oaken, tree-like texture to it, sprung out of Sophia's body and smashed the gangplank leading to the ship..

"Not so fast!" Sophia growled. "I plan to take my vengeance on _all_ the Neptune Pirates!"

"Well, I'm more a mild acquaintance of the Neptune Pir- Whoa!" Tell narrowly avoided another attack by the large oaken hand. "Watch it! What's with that weird hand, anyway?!"

"She ate the Seed Seed Fruit." Ushio explained. "Basically, if she eats the seed of a plant, she can sprout the plant anywhere on her body."

"That's right!" Sophia nodded. "I've just eaten the seed of the Rachina Hand Trap! It's a rare carnivorous plant which lures its prey nearby with fruit, then crushes them with its enormous hands! Now, Ushio D. Neptune, are you going to stop standing around, or fight m- Gaah!"

Suddenly, there was a loud noise, and Sophia's oaken hand was smashed into splinters, as some weird white blur, the size of a cannonball smashed into it.

"What the hell was that?!" Sophia gasped.

"Hey!" A loud voice could be heard.

Suddenly, Rio leapt from the deck of the ship, soaring through the air, before landing in front of the group. He had several white bandages wrapped around his hands and a very angry look on his face.

"I've just got one question." He growled. "Who the hell smashed the gangplank to _my _ship?!"


	16. Arc 3: The Shipwright Commando!

_**Chapter 15: Meet the Supernovas Part 5! Face the Shipwright Commando Fighting Style!**_

"Get out of my way idiot!" Sophia tossed a bunch of seeds into her mouth and three more large oaken hands sprung towards Rio.

The young shipwright took a step backwards and raised his hands in a boxing pose.

"**Shipwright Commando..."**He growled. **"Triple Nail Gun!"**

Suddenly, he shot his fist forward with blinding speed, three times. As he did so, a white blur shot out of his fists, like a cannon, and smashed into the hands destroying them.

"What the-?!" Sophia gasped. "A Devil Fruit?!"

"No it's not." Seraphin had finally managed to regain his composure. "That's the 'Shipwright Commando' fighting style. I'd heard rumours that there were practitioners on the isle but I never thought I'd... What are you all looking at?!"

The entire group was staring at both him and Tell in a mixture of confusion, amusement and wonder.

"You two really do look identical!" Sophia gasped.

"Are you twins or something?" Rio asked.

"That's so cool!" Yura grinned.

"I have a feeling this is going to be fun..." Ushio chuckled sinisterly.

"I think I've got a migraine coming on..." Tell groaned. "Okay, does someone want to tell me what's up with that guy?"

"Apparently, we look identical." Seraphin sighed, patting Tell on the shoulder. "Personally, I don't see the similarities. I mean I'm much more handsome and talented than you."

"Don't forget modest." Tell muttered sarcastically.

"Yep, modest too." Seraphin nodded. "I suppose you're lucky to have some similarities to me, though. Perhaps you can ride my fame to success?"

"Okay, you're really getting on my nerves." Tell growled, drawing his pistol. "Captain? Permission to beat this guy up?"

"Do you really care whether or not I give you permission?" Ushio asked.

"No, not really." Tell admitted. He turned back to Seraphin. "Now clear off before I beat the crap out of you."

"Hmph, bold words for such an amateur." Seraphin had a smug look on his face. "I suppose I can give you a taster of my true power, though. Brace yourself for my ultimate technique!"

He suddenly threw something at the ground and there was a blinding flash.

"**Seraphin Fighting Style..."** Seraphin suddenly dashed forward and grabbed Yura by the shoulders, before cowering behind him. **"Human Shield!"**

…

"What are you doing?" Tell asked.

"Ha!" Seraphin laughed, cockily. "My ultimate technique has you stumped! You can't attack me without hurting your friend fir- Gaah!"

He ducked down as a bullet shot past his ear.

"You really think holding _Yura _hostage is gonna stop me?" Tell asked.

"Even I knew that!" Yura chuckled. "Tell already knows that my devil fruit power makes me immune to bullets!"

"..." Tell had a blank look on his face. "You have a Devil Fruit?"

"Hey!" Sophia yelled. "Stop ignoring me!"

"Are you still here?" Ushio looked at her curiously. "What are you wanting anyway?"

"GAAAAH!" Sophia let out a yell of rage. "That's it, Neptune! I didn't want to have to resort to this, but you've left me no choice!"

She dug a small black seed out of her pouch.

"Do you know what this seed is, Neptune?" Sophia asked, with a slight smile on her face.

"Is it a sunflower seed?" Ushio asked cheekily, but his face had taken on a slightly serious tone and his hand was slowly reaching for his staff. "I could use a sandwich."

"Not quite." Sophia was too smug to notice the change in mood. "This is a Punk Hazard Doom Seed. There are only 3 or 4 seeds of this plant left in the world after the World Government outlawed them. It cost me several small fortunes to get this. If I eat this seed, this town won't be left standing..."

Now she had everyone's attention. Tell and Seraphin both raised their guns but a warning look from Sophia stopped them in their tracks.

"Sophia, don't be rash." Ushio said in a calm, serious tone.

"Oh, you remember my name this time, Neptune?" Sophia smirked. "Well, it's too late. See you in the after life!"

With that, she tossed the seed into her mouth and bit down on it.

* * *

At that moment, everyone except Ushio and Sophia dived for cover, not that it would do them any good. Sophia laughed maniacally as her body began to glow with a harsh white light. Ushio, meanwhile, just stood there with a aura of pure serenity as he faced his death head on.

Then a sunflower sprouted out of Sophia's face.

…

…

…

"Huh?!" Everyone in the near vicinity collectively gasped.

"What the hell is going on?!" Sophia screamed as more and more sunflowers popped out of her body.

"Oh, I guess it really was a sunflower seed." Ushio realised. "Hah! You guys all got really scared!"

"You're one to talk." Tell scowled, his legs shaking slightly.

Yura, meanwhile, had passed out, foaming at the mouth.

"This is impossible!" Sophia screeched. "I know that seed was real!"

"I guess you just got conned." Tell sighed. "Now, do you want to get out of here, or are we going to have to bring some 'doom' of our own?"

"Hey!" Ushio protested. "I'm the Captain, so I'm the only one allowed to make cool one-liners!"

"Since when?!" Tell argued. "Besides, that one wasn't even that good!"

"Shut up, you two!" Sophia screamed. "I'm not gonna stop until I get my revenge!"

With that, she shoved a bunch of seeds in her mouth and, instantly, several thorned vines sprung out of her body and shot towards Ushio and Tell. The two of them attempted to draw their weapons in an attempt to defend themselves but, before they could, Rio stepped in front of them and caught the first vine with his bare hands.

"Wh-What the-?!" Sophia gasped, faltering for a second.

"Hey." Rio squeezed his bleeding hand tighter around the thorned vine. "You know that stunt you pulled a few seconds ago? You were planning on blowing up this whole town and us with it, right?"

"Yeah." Sophia scowled. "So what if I was?"

"You do realise that, by blowing up this town, you'd have damaged my ship, right?" Rio's face was a picture of pure anger.

"Huh?"

"I can't forgive anyone who'd lay a finger on my ship!" Rio screamed, yanking the thorn forward and sending Sophia off balance. Then, he took a step back and raised his fists. **"Shipwright Commando: Nail Gun Breaker!"**

Rio punched forward countless times with blinding speed, sending white blurs flying everywhere. Sophia wasn't so much facing a few attacks as she was facing a whole wall of them. They smashed into her, sending her flying backwards, smashing through several houses in the process. Sophia gave a slight groan, before passing out. Rio just stood their panting heavily, his arms limp by his side.

…

"Hey Tell..." Ushio stared in amazement.

"Yeah?"

"Remind me never to damage the ship when he's nearby."

"Does that mean no more dynamite?"

…

"I'm not making any promises."

* * *

"Well, as fun as this whole thing has been, I think I'd best be going now." Seraphin decided. "I'm sure it was a pleasure for all of you to be graced by my presence, but the race will be starting soon."

He gave the unconscious Yura a quick pat on the forehead and began to leave, hiding behind Ushio by grabbing his coat tails, as he passed by Tell.

"What a jackass." Tell scowled, watching him go.

"Yeah." Ushio nodded. "And he looks really stupid, too!"

"Yeah... Hey, wait a minute!"

"We should probably head to where the race is starting." Rio suggested. "I'll get the ship ready to sail."

Rio looked like a giddy schoolboy, barely able to hide his excitement as he scampered back onboard the ship, to get it ready for the race.

"Wonder what he's so happy about?" Tell spotted Yura, still unconscious, lying on the ground. "Hey Yura! Wake up!" He gave Yura a couple of light kicks.

"Gwashanabfriedcoleslaw!" Yura sprung awake. "What happened?! Are we dead?!"

"Yeah, sure." Tell sighed. "Come on. The race is about to start."

"Race? Do we have a new ship?"

"Yup." Tell nodded, pointing at their new ship.

"Wow!" Yura gasped. "It's so cool! There's even a Tomlinese White Tiger on the front!"

"A... what?"

"Hurry up, you two!" Ushio yelled from the deck of the ship. "We're setting sail!"

"We'll be right th-!" Tell turned to get on the ship, when he noticed something missing... "Hey, how are we supposed to get on board without the gangplank?!" He paused a moment. "Come to think about it, how did _you _get on board?!"

"I grew wings and flew here." Ushio lied. "You'd better do the same or we're gonna leave you here.

"Hey, that better have been a joke, you jerk!"

Tsurugi suddenly emerged from her cabin, rubbing her eyes in tiredness.

"Hey..." She yawned. "Did I miss anything while I was asleep?

* * *

**Meanwhile**

"Nerras, are you here?" 'Spiced Gentleman' Chiffy Shill entered the wrecked, old restaurant to find his first mate sitting at one of the tables, still eating the noodles.

"Oh hey, Cap'n." 'Noodle King' Nerras Wanze barely even glanced in Shill's direction as he continued to shovel noodles into his mouth. "Some guy was looking for you earlier."

"I know." Shill sighed. "What's wrong with your arm?"

He pointed at Nerras's arm which was heavily bloodstained and wrapped in an odd looking bandage.

"Hmm?" Nerras took a second to look, before turning back to his noodles. "Oh, just a paper cut."

The cut was almost as long as his arm.

"I see." Shill took a closer look at the wound. "Did you bandage this... with noodles?"

"Yeah." Nerras looked at his captain blankly. "So?"

"Never mind." Shill sighed. "We need to get back to the ship. The race will be starting soon."

"Sure." Nerras nodded. "Just let me finish this bowl of noodles."

Shill paused a moment. Then he tossed a small amount of red dust into Nerras's wound. Nerras leapt to his feet and began hopping around the the restaurant yelping in pain, while Shill stood patiently watching him. Nerras finally managed to calm down and took a quick look at his Captain's face.

"On second thoughts..." He decided. "I think I can finish this bowl on the ship."

* * *

"The race will be starting soon." 'Poison Lion' Couralle informed his captain.

"I know." 'Cloaked Tiger' Kuurant stepped onto his brand new ship and and looked around for a moment.

"Swapier!" He suddenly called.

There was a thumping sound and the door to the cabin swung open. The inside of the cabin was pitch black, so it was impossible to see the figure inside.

**Cloaked Pirate: Swapier**

"Are we setting off soon?" Swapier asked.

"Soon." Kuurant nodded. "How's Filli?"

"He behaved himself." Swapier shrugged. "By the way, a couple of marines came searching around here a short while ago. We'll need to dump their dismembered limbs into the sea, after we've set off."

"Good." You couldn't see Kuurant's face behind his mask, but you got the impression he was smiling. "Once we win this race, we can move onto the next section of our plan..."

* * *

'Legend's Child' Ichiya Mihawk laid in his tiny sailboat (which resembled a yacht more than anything) and slept peacefully. Suddenly, some poor fool walked up to his boat.

"Hey!" He loudly yelled. "You're Ichiya Mihawk, right?!"

Ichiya opened a single eye and glared at the man.

"Why aren't you at the harbour?!" The man continued, completely oblivious to the danger he was facing. "The race is about to begin! I have 500 beri's bet on you!"

Ichiya simply drew his sword. I think you can fill the rest in yourselves.

* * *

"Captain Limbosa!" Limbosa's First Mate, Bonbon Ballade called to his Captain. "The race is about to start!"

'Hundred Arms' Krishin Limbosa simply sat on the ground, his legs crossed as if he was meditating. Bonbon shook him a couple of times and the pudgy pirate awoke with a gasp.

"Aah~Haah!" He wailed. "I was having a pleasant dream of happiness! Now you have awakened me! I must dance in sorrow!"

Krishin began dancing desperately again. Bonbon just sighed and began directing his dancing captain towards their ship...

* * *

"Yes master, I can see you..." 'Straight Man' Rawn Jeffries sighed. "Now please come down..."

"Nevah!" 'Drunken Fist' Elways Vodska cried, from the top of the street lamp he'd climbed. "Thish *hic* ish my new schip! I don't need that schrappy old one!"

"Yes you do, sir." Jeffries tried to shake the street lamp and knock Elways down. "Now please come down."

"Wheee!" Elways swung from the street lamp like some sort of monkey. "I'm Schpiderman!"

Then he accidentally let go and fell smack into the pavement.

"Of course you are, sir." Jeffries sighed, dragging his unconscious captain towards the harbour.

* * *

"Listen, my beautiful young lady." 'Magic Sniper' Brurrage Seraphin sighed, stepping onto his small sailboat. "I know you long to come with me on my grand adventures, but I must travel as I always have! Alone! But know that, while my body may be setting sail now, my heart will always be with you!"

The small black cat watching Seraphin let out a loud 'miaow'. The rest of the dock was completely empty.

"Well..." Seraphin felt his heart soften. "If you truly understand the dangers involved... then I suppose you can come along."

The cat let out a contented purr and trotted onto Seraphin's boat before nestling off to sleep.

Seraphin watched the cat peacefully sleeping and let out a sigh.

"I really need a girlfriend."

* * *

"Neptune!" 'Wild Seed' Sophia Violettes sprung awake, only to find herself covered in bandages, lying in a soft white bed.

"You're finally awake Captain?" A figure asked. "I take it your revenge didn't go as planned?"

**'Chipmunk' Cherry Gnash**

**First Mate of the 'Seed Pirates'**

**Bounty: 13,000,000**

Cherry was a short, chubby young woman with rosy cheeks and buck teeth.

"You could say that..." Sophia groaned. "How did I get here?"

"We found you in the rubble of a building." Cherry explained. "Apparently you'd been punched through several walls."

"Oh yeah..." The memory of the incident came rushing back to Sophia. "Hey, that Doom Seed we got was a fake!"

"What are you talking about?" Cherry raised a suspicious eyebrow. "We tested that thing remember? We proved without a doubt that it was genuine."

"That's right!" Sophia realised. "But what happened back there? And where's the real Doom Seed?"

* * *

'Chewing Clown' Gummy Cerish sat on a nearby rooftop with a large grin on his face. He was tossing a small seed into the air and catching it playfully. A very familiar looking black seed...

"Sorry, Miss Violettes." He grinned to himself. "But I wasn't exactly going to let you blow up the town while I was still in it, was I?"

He snatched the seed out of the air and placed it in his pocket, before getting to his feet.

"Besides." He chuckled. "I can have much more fun with this seed than you can. Shushushushu!"

With that, he ran off towards the harbour...


	17. Arc 3: Ready Steady Go!

_**Yey! New chapter! These next two chapters are going to be very 'Supernova-focused' so expect them to be taking up a lot of the spotlight. Ushio and his crew are going to reclaim their screentime in a couple of chapters though, so don't worry.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 16: The Sleeping Star Sets Sail! Let the Race Begin!**_

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Grand Dead End Competition!" The announcer blared through the many Den Den Mushi loudspeakers scattered throughout the harbour. "And it is a beautiful day for a race!"

The harbour was packed to the brim with people celebrating and cheering the Pirate Ships which were currently preparing to set sail. Further along the harbour, however, the sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard.

"Before we begin with proceedings, we'd like to thank the Capone organisation for sending a fleet of their best troops to help us guard this event from our, heheh, 'overzealous' Marine Captain Isleague." The announcer chuckled. "And don't forget to place a bet at our betting stations! We currently have a max prize of 300,000,000 beri's to be won!"

The announcer rubbed his hands in pleasure at the thought of all that money. Tourists and Pirates from all over the world gathered to watch this race.

"Now, before we start, I suppose I should go over the rules." The announcer continued. There was a groan of displeasure from the crowd. "I know, I know, but we need to say these things. Rule 1!" The announcer held up his finger dramatically, until he realised no-one could see him. "No attacking each other until the race starts!" There was an even bigger sigh of disappointment. "I know, I know! But remember what happened last time?! And Rule 2! No attacking each other in the final stretch to Reverse Mountain! I know it seems like the perfect opportunity, but we do want a winner and blocking up the entry with debris isn't exactly gonna give us one. And Rule 3?! There is no Rule 3! There is, however, a Rule 4, since our sponsor has... strange neuroses. Sexual assaults are forbidden. As is gouging." There was the biggest sigh of disappointment yet, and a couple of people left to go back home. "This is a family show after all. A very messed up family show that no adult should ever let their child watch, but still... Anyway, I've been receiving reports of Sea King attacks near Reverse Mountain, so I guess you should probably watch out for that... I guess..."

* * *

"Ohmigodihmigodohmigod!" Rio garbled incomprehensibly, leaning over the railing. "I can't believe I get to watch this!"

"You've been saying that for last 5 minutes non-stop." Tell sighed. "You may want to take a small break to, you know, breath?!"

"Eh, breathing's overrated." Rio shrugged. Suddenly, he collapsed into another fit of ecstatic screaming, pointing towards another boat. "Look! Look! There's another one of mine!"

"Wow! That ship looks so cool!" Yura grinned, leaning on the railing, alongside Rio. "Did you really build that?!"

"Yup!" Rio looked incredibly proud. "Hey, maybe I'll show you to make one, one day!"

"R-Really?!" Yura's face lit up. "That'd be so cool!"

"How many boats of yours are there here, Rio?" Ushio asked, leaning casually on the railing.

"So far, I've spotted at least three!" Rio grinned. "I can't wait to see them in action!"

Ushio had a rare, troubled look on his face.

"Listen Rio?" Ushio asked. "Do you think you could go do something downstairs for me?"

"Later, later." Rio waved him off. "I don't want to miss the start of the race!"

"I'm serious, Rio." Ushio gave him a glare.

"Don't be so stingy." Tell sighed, helping unfurl the sail. "There's not harm in letting him watch."

"I'm not too sure about that." Ushio stepped closer so that Rio couldn't overhear. "Have you noticed something about weird about Rio?"

"You mean his hair?" Tell asked. "Seriously, I don't think you can get that shade of red naturally. He must've died it, or something."

"I don't mean his hair." Ushio sighed.

"Then no, I haven't really noticed anything weird." Tell shrugged. "He's a little thick, very over-enthusiastic and he had an odd fighting style but considering the wackos you usually attract, he's pretty sane."

Ushio simply picked up a small bread knife and stabbed it into the ship's mast. Immediately, Rio's head shot up and he began sniffing the air, like some odd sniffer dog.

"Did somebody just scratch my ship?" He growled.

"It probably just hit some debris." Ushio lied.

"Oh, okay!" Rio grinned, turning back to the race.

Ushio gave Tell a look as if to say 'I told you so.'

"Okay, there is that." Tell admitted. "So what's your point?"

"This is the part of the race where ships get sunk the most, trying to fight their way out of the harbour." Ushio explained. "How do you think he's going to react if any of his ships are destroyed?"

"..."

Tell raised his palm and pressed it against Ushio's forehead.

"Are you feeling ill or something?" He asked. "You're not normally this smart."

Ushio knocked Tell's hand away. "I'm serious."

"First time for everything, I guess." Tell shrugged. "Look, even if you're right, nothing's gonna stop him from watching this race. You've seen how eager he is. Besides, we're gonna need everybody up to defend our ship from attackers."

"Come on, Tell." Ushio scoffed. "I doubt anybody's gonna be _that_ desperate to get us."

A familiar cry suddenly cut through the air.

"_**Neptune!"**_

…

"I had that coming, didn't I?" Ushio sighed.

"Yup"

A heavily bandaged Sophia Violettes and her crew suddenly sailed into view on an odd looking ship. While at first sight, the ship appeared to to be just a regular ship, a closer look revealed that the ship was actually a giant log, cleverly sculpted to make it look like a normal ship. The ship's name was carved on the side of the boat. _The Hydra Lotus. _The ship slowly positioned itself right alongside Ushio's ship.

"Sahahahaha!" Sophia cackled maniacally. "Did you really think that you'd seen the last of me?! I have returned to exact my revenge on you!"

Ushio looked at her blankly.

"It's Sarah Something, right?" He asked.

"Gaaah!" Sophia attempted to leap at Ushio, but her crew managed to hold her back.

"Captain, if you attack Neptune now, then we'll be disqualified from the race." Cherry pointed out.

"...Fine..." Sophia shot one last angrily glare at Ushio, who was waving happily at her. "Bring all the cannons on deck and point them at Neptune's fat face."

"Uh... Captain, we may want to save a couple of cannons for the people on the other side." Cherry advised.

"Pfft, I doubt they're that dangerous." Sophia turned to look at the other ship.

And found Chiffry Shill casually waving at her, while leaning on a _very_ large cannon.

Shill's ship, the _Puttin' Pepper_, (Nerras named it while Shill was out) was an old fashioned looking paddle steamer, with two large paddle wheels on either side of the ship. However, there were 4 huge cannons positioned on the ship's deck. One pointing forward, one pointing at either side and one pointing backwards. The cannons appeared to be loaded with some sort of red dust, instead of gunpowder.

"Yeah, we may need to watch him." Sophia agreed. "What about Kuurant?"

"On the other side of the harbour, thank goodness." Cherry sighed. "I wouldn't want to have to come up against him."

* * *

Brurrage Seraphin looked at the enormous steel that practically dwarfed his tiny sailboat, which he had casually nicknamed the _Black Cat_, and shuddered.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

The real black cat who'd stowed away with him, simply rested her head on his lap and purred contently. Seraphin looked down at the tiny cat and sighed.

"Yup. Definitely need a girlfriend."

* * *

Kuurant stood on the deck of his ship and looked out over the harbour,silently.

"Not long now, until the race starts." Couralle came up to him. "Filli is ready and willing to go."

"Good..." Although it was hard to tell under the large mask covering his face, Kuurant appeared to be smiling. "Do we have to be worried about any of our neighbours?"

"Hmph." Diabla snorted distastefully. "We don't have to worry about any of this weak scum. Whoever we're next to obviously has no hope against us."

* * *

Out of their sight, Gummy Cerish lay in his own small sailboat, much like Seraphin's, and giggled.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, if I were you..." Suddenly, he perked his ears up. "Where's that music coming from?"

* * *

"Yoo~Ooi!" Krishin sang. "Join me, my crew, in the Dance of Good Luck!"

Krishin's ship, the _Avocado Celebration_ was an oddity in that there was a large hole in it, right down the centre. Oddly, the hole was a deliberate inclusion, when the boat was requested, and there was a huge hammock stretched over it.

"Captain, surely the Dance of Victory would be more appropriate?" Bonbon suggested.

"_**No!"**_ Krishin gave him a deadly glare. "We may only do that dance once we have won!"

"Okay..." Bonbon submitted, seriously regretting his life's choices.

* * *

A sentiment shared by one random passerby who Ichiya Mihawk had drafted into dragging his boat to the harbour.

"Go faster." The swordsman scowled. "I don't have time to waste on your laziness."

"Y-Yes sir!" The man practically screamed, picking up the pace.

* * *

"Graaaaaaghhh!" Elways Vodska screamed, plunging his head into a small contained of water. "Jeffries, how much did I drink last night?!"

"_This morning, _sir." Jeffries corrected. "And a lot."

"I've got a hangover like you wouldn't believe!" Elways groaned. "That's it! I'm quitting drinking completely!"

"Of course you are, sir." Jeffries sighed with the air of someone who'd heard that promise plenty of times in the past. "Would you like a tipple of whisky before the race begins, sir?"

"Of course!" Elways smiled. "When don't I?"

"When indeed, sir..." Jeffries muttered sarcastically.

* * *

"My god!" Ushio suddenly let out a loud cry. "This is awful!"

"What is it?!" Tell dashed over, in a panic.

"We've forgotten something incredibly important!" Ushio realised.

"What?!" Tell gasped. "Is it some supplies?! Weapons?! Sea Charts?! Yura?!"

"Yura's right here." Tsurugi pointed out.

"He called me important!" Yura gushed, giggling like a schoolboy.

"We forgot..." Ushio held the silence for dramatic tension. "To name the ship!"

…

"Just when I thought you were finally getting smarter..." Tell sighed.

"Ooh! I've got a good name for it!" Rio grinned. "How about the Morbid-Poison-Lightning-Screaming-Hate-Evil-Dragon?!"

…

"Where the hell did you pick this idiot up from?" Tsurugi asked.

"Who are you calling an idiot?!" Rio growled.

"Stop it you two." Tell sighed. "Tsurugi, can you suggest a name?"

"How about we just call it 'the ship'?" Tsurugi scowled.

"Good name." Tell nodded. "I'm happy with that."

"But we need to name it something!" Ushio protested.

"How about _The Sleeping Star_?" Yura suddenly piped up.

…

Everyone stopped and stared at him.

"I-It was just a suggestion..." Yura turned red with embarrassment and turned away. "I'm sorry..."

"No, it's good! Great, in fact!" Ushio grinned, giving him a friendly pat on the head. "Any objections?!"

"That's actually not a bad name." Tell admitted.

"It sounds so cool!" Rio grinned.

"I couldn't care less either way." Tsurugi shrugged.

"Great!" Ushio smiled. "_The_ _Sleeping Star _it is!" He paused a moment. "So how do we name it?"

"... We just start calling it by its name..." Tell helpfully pointed out.

"Nah, I mean there must be some sort of ceremony or something." Ushio explained.

"Ooh! Ooh!" Rio raised his hand in the air. "I know! I know! We've got to break a barrel of booze over the ship's bow!"

"I'll go see if we have any spare barrels." Tell headed to the supply cabin with a sigh. Seconds later, he emerged, dragging a large barrel up with him. "Will this do?"

"Great!" Ushio grinned. "Now, we just need to-"

He was suddenly interrupted by a loud siren which sounded throughout the entire harbour.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The announcer yelled, through his Den Den Mushi. "The race is about to begin! Get in your starting positions and prepare to set off when the countdown reaches 0! "

* * *

"9..."

"This is history in the making." Chiffy Shill smiled.

"Yup." Nerras Wanze nodded. "Want some noodles?"

* * *

"8..."

"This is gonna be so much fun!" Gummy Cerish chuckled.

* * *

"7..."

"Keep all cannons trained on Neptune!" Sophia Violettes ordered.

* * *

"6..."

"Gaah! This whisky is good stuff!" Elways Vodska grinned. "Can I have another bottle?"

"Right away, sir." Rawn Jeffries sighed.

* * *

"5..."

"Everybody dance to the countdown!" Krishin Limbosa ordered, moving his limbs furiously.

* * *

"4..."

"Get off me, you stupid cat!" Brurrage Seraphin yelled, trying to tear off the black cat which, spooked by the siren, had leapt onto his face.

* * *

"3..."

"This is a waste of time." Ichiya Mihawk scowled.

* * *

"2..."

While Couralle and the rest of the Cloak Pirates readied themselves, Kuurant simply stood calmly.

"Soon..." He smiled. "Soon..."

* * *

"1..."

Ushio D. Neptune gave an excited look to his crew, before dashing to the front of the ship and letting out a cry with all of his energy.

"_**LET'S GOOOO!"**_

* * *

"Let the race begin!"


	18. Arc 3 Part 2: Escape the Harbour!

_**Chapter 17: Face the Wrath of... Jelly?! Rio's Trauma!"**_

"Nerras, fire the rear Chilli Cannon!" Chiffy Shill ordered.

"Aye aye!" Nerras yanked a cord emerging from the rearmost cannon. It began to glow with a fierce white light and clouds of red dust began steaming out of it. Behind them, people on the harbour ran for their lives to avoid the oncoming cannonball.

"What's this!" The announcer gasped. "The Chilli Pirates are planning to use their powerful cannon to boost themselves out of the harbour!"

The Chilli Cannon suddenly fired a huge fireball, streams of red dust blowing around it, with smashed into the harbour smashing everything in its way!

Their boat, however, stayed exactly where it was.

"Nerras..." Shill's eye twitched. "Did you remember to cast off the mooring line?"

Nerras did his best to look inconspicuous.

* * *

"What the heck is that mooring line made of, anyway?" Tell wondered.

Then he ducked to avoid a cannonball.

"Fire! Fire!" Sophia yelled from the deck of her ship.

_The Sleeping Star_ was currently under heavy fire, but the crew were doing a good job defending it. Ushio had told them that he had a plan to stop Sophia, but he needed them to buy him time. Tell had decided to snipe off the cannoneers, since he couldn't exactly block a cannonball, and had left the defending of the ship to Rio, Yura and Tsurugi. Rio and Tsurugi were doing fine, but Yura, in an attempt to catch a cannonball with his impact powers, had accidentally gotten trapped under the weight of it. Meanwhile, Ushio had climbed to the top of the ship's mast, hefting a large water hammer.

"Here goes nothing!" He grinned, leaping off. _**"Neptune Cannonball!"**_

He swung his hammer several times, in mid-air, then quickly demagnetized it from his staff, sending a large surge of water smashing into Sophia's ship, destroying the majority of the cannons and leaving a large dent in the deck.

"Captain, we're taking on water!" Cherry noticed. "We need you downstairs to help repair the damage!"

"Dammit, Neptune!" Sophia swore, before heading down to assess the damage.

"Hahah! It worked!" Ushio grinned from the ship's rigging, where he'd somehow gotten entangled. "My new technique worked!"

"Why did you need to climb all the way up here?" Tell asked, climbing up to free Ushio.

"Have you ever tried throwing a giant ball of compressed water with the same amount of power as a cannon, Tell?" Ushio asked. "'Cause it's a lot easier to do when you've got gravity on your side."

"Good point." Tell shrugged. "Anyway, now that Sophia's distracted, there's nothing that can stop us from getting out of the harbour!"

…

"You just had to say that, didn't you?" Ushio sighed.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the middle of the harbour, when chaos and destruction was breaking out around him, a single man stood. A brave man. A confident man. An idiot.

_**Julisir Jells: Captain of the Jelly Pirates**_

_**Bounty: 7,000,000**_

"Jehahahaha!" Jells laughed. "You cocky Supernovas think you're the only ones who matter in this race! Prepare to face your defeat! Jehahaha!"

* * *

"Hey, is that guy saying something to us?" Elways scratched his head. "I can't hear a word he's saying."

"Just ignore him, sir." Jeffries managed to redirect a cannonball with his hand and sent it hurtling towards another ship. "He's probably just another overconfident idiot."

* * *

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Jells eye twitched. "Bring forth the Jelly Ball!"

Jells's crewmates loaded a large cannon with an odd, wobbling pink ball.

"Jehahaha!" Jells laughed. "You fools are at my mercy now! I bet you're wondering what that ball does, aren't you?! Well, it-"

* * *

"Is that guy still talking?" Elways wondered, punching out a pirate who had leapt onto his ship.

"Like I said, just ignore him." Jeffries sighed. "Do you need something to drink?"

"Yeah, my mouth is a little dry." Elways nodded. "Do we have any of that spicy vodka left?"

"I'll get some immediately." Jeffries bowed, before kicking another pirate off the ship.

* * *

"-Your doom!" Jells continued, oblivious. "Jehahahaha! What do you think of that!"

He then realised no-one was listening to him.

"Screw you all!" He screamed. "Fire the Jelly Ball!"

His crew lit the fuse of the large cannon. Within seconds the fuse burnt up and cannon fired, launching the Jelly Ball!

Which splashed harmlessly into the water.

* * *

"That's a shame." Elways sighed, taking a sip of the vodka. "I was really looking forward to that."

"Looking forward to what, sir?"Jeffries was currently holding off 5 pirates at once.

"Never mind." Elways shrugged. "You know, I'm starting to feel a little tipshy... Heheh. The sea's turning pink."

"Of course it is, si-" Jeffries's eyes widen. "Holy crap, it is!"

The water around where the Jelly Ball landed was slowly turning pink and freezing into place. And it was spreading fast throughout the entire harbour.

* * *

"...the hell?..." Ichiya Mihawk drew his sword and gently prodded the spreading pink mass.

It wobbled.

* * *

"Is this... jelly?" Seraphin scooped a small handful out of the ocean and tasted it. "Ew ew ew ew! It's really salty!"

* * *

"Have you untied the mooring rope now?" Chiffy Shill asked, with a sigh.

"Yup." Nerras nodded. "But the ship's still not moving."

"Huh?"

* * *

"What a surprise this is!" The announcer blared. "All the ships in the harbour have been immobilised by this... jelly?!" He suddenly spotted something. "Hang on! There are a couple of ships still moving!"

* * *

"Of course, fools!" Jells laughed. "Do you really think I, the master of jelly, wouldn't be able to get past this?!"

While it was impossible to see underwater, Jells's ship had secretly fixed caterpillar tracks on the bottom of the hull. They rolled over the mass of jelly and successfully sailed out of the harbour, before anyone else could.

However, they weren't the only ones still moving.

Kuurant's ship simply sailed through the jelly like it wasn't there. Admittedly, the ship was moving slightly slower than usual, but it sailed through the jelly very easily. And behind them...

"**Gum Gum Towrope!"**

Gummy Cerish spat out what looked like a piece of gum, which fixed itself to the hull of Kuurant's ship. The gum was now stretched out between the two ships and Cerish tied the other end around the small mast of his ship. Amazingly, the gum line didn't break and it began dragging Cerish's ship along with it.

"Hey, don't leave me behind, you jerks!" Seraphin swore, attempting to row through the jelly, but his boat wasn't moving. "This is... huh?"

He suddenly looked over to where the Cloak Pirates's ship had been. There was a huge hole in the jelly which reached all the way to the bottom of the harbour. It didn't look like the Cloak Pirates had sailed over the jelly, more that something huge dug through it and carried them on top.

"...The hell...?" Seraphin was interrupted in his trail of thought by a loud rushing sound. The Cloak Pirates had broken out of the harbour and now the huge hole they'd made behind them was filling up with water. Seraphin thought for a few minutes and then began dragging his boat over to the water...

* * *

"I trust you've untied the mooring line this time?" Chiffry Shill sighed.

"Uh... the mooring line is that one between the ship and the harbour, right?" Nerras scratched his head. "If so, then yes."

"Good." Shill raised his hand. "Fire the rear Chilli Cannon again!"

The bystanders who had returned to the rubble heap gave a sigh and ran for their lives again, as another powerful blast rocked the harbour. This time, however, it worked and the _Puttin' Pepper_ was sent flying into the distance, before successfully landing outside the harbour.

"Now, full speed ahead!" Shill ordered. "We'll catch up with the Cloak Pirates in no ti- Jesus!"

The _Puttin' Pepper _was then almost crushed by an enormous hand.

Well, okay, it wasn't actually a hand. It was hundreds and hundreds of hands extending from each other which, together, just happened to look like a giant hand. Which made it so much less weird...

"Yoyoyoyoyoy!" Krishin Limbosa laughed from his ship. He was currently sitting on a large hammock, which was stretched out over the hole in the middle of the ship. The hundreds of hands which Shill could see were all sprouting from his body and reaching through the hole to form two gigantic hands, which Krishin was using to carry and move his boat forward. The funny thing was, though, all the hands appeared to be emerging from a flap in his... his rear end.

"Huh. There's something you don't see every day." Nerras said, in the third biggest understatement of the year. "What should we do now, Captain?"

Chiffry Shill didn't answer. His hand trembled violently. While he had been watching the amazing sight, his eyes had accidentally flicked up to the source of the hands. And he had seen something grotesque. And hairy.

"I'm putting the race on hold for the moment." He growled furiously. "First, I'm gonna hunt down and kill that guy, violently. Very violently."

* * *

"Sehahaha!" Sophia Violettes laughed as her ship slowly made its ways to the water. "So long Neptune idiots!"

The ship was currently being towed by a small army of... chipmunks, which somehow had managed to lift the huge ship without being squished. Seconds before the ship hit the water, the chipmunks all scrambled back on board and reformed into an exhausted Cherry Gnash.

"Dont' worry Sophia! I can take care of it Sophia!" She muttered angrily to herself. "What the hell was I thinking?!"

* * *

"Ushio, we need to get out of this harbour now." Tell advised. "By the time this jelly clears, the other ships will be miles ahead."

"Don't worry, Tell." Ushio had a gleam in his eyes. "I know exactly what to-"

"No dynamite."

"Huh?"

"I said, no dynamite." Tell folded his arms. "You're not blowing up another ship."

"I wasn't going to say dynamite!" Ushio protested.

"Really?" Tell looked at him skeptically. "Then what was your plan?"

…

"Just tell me if you come up with something." Ushio stalked off, scowling.

* * *

"**Single Sword Style: Black Breadth!" **Ichiya Mihawk swung his sword in a sharp, downward angle. His sword never even touched the jelly, but the jelly split apart as if it had been sliced open by something. A flood of water came rushing down and caught Ichiya's boat, before it plummeted to the bottom of the harbour. Ichiya lay his head back and relaxed as his boat drifted out of the harbour.

* * *

"Okay, Jeffriesh!" Elways was now pretty damn drunk and he leapt down from his ship onto the jelly. "I'm gonna schort this out and carry the ship out of this place."

"Sir, I don't think that's a good idea." Jeffries said, in the second biggest understatement of the year.

"Don't worry!" Elways grinned. "I can take care of thish!"

Then he fell over.

"Damn schlippy jelly!" Elways swore, furiously. "Take thish!"

He punched the jelly with all his strength. There was a very unsettling sounding rumble and the jelly bounced back, propelling Elways and his ship into the air. Screaming. Loudly.

Amazingly, the ship somehow managed to land the right way up, landing in the ocean with a large splash.

"Okay..." Jeffries leant against the ship's mast, his legs shaking violently. "We're never doing that again. Agreed?"

"Yes... sir..." His crew agreed, in similar states of dishevelment.

Suddenly, Jeffries heard screaming. He looked up to see Elways hurtling towards him at very a high speed...

"Oh. Crap."

* * *

"Okay, I think we can agree that we're not doing that." Tell shuddered. "Anyone got any ideas yet?"

"Well, if we got a load of-"

"We're not using dynamite!"

Meanwhile, Tsurugi stood at the front of the ship and raised her sword.

"**Single Sword Style..." **She closed her eyes in an attempt to concentrate. **"Kite Call!"**

She brought the sword down in a slashing motion. A small cut appeared in the jelly, but it wasn't big enough to create a small river like Ichiya's.

"Damn!" She swore, slamming her sword against the ground. "I'm not strong enough!"

"Whoa!" Ushio gasped, leaning over the edge. "You managed to cut that jelly from all the way over here! That's so cool!"

"A true swordsman would've been able to cut through that easily." Tsurugi scowled, storming off to her cabin. "I need to get stronger."

"Wonder what's up with her?" Ushio scratched his head.

"Okay, I've got an idea." Tell sighed. The crew grouped around him to listen. "It's kind of like how the Whisky Pirates got out, except... less potentially fatal."

"What is it?" Ushio asked.

"Okay, you know how, when that guy punched the jelly, it bounced back and sent him flying, right?" Tell explained his plan. "So, if we can hit the bottom of this ship hard enough, then we can send the ship flying and land it in the water!"

"Er... one small problem there, Tell." Ushio sighed. "If the ship has a large hole on the bottom, then what's gonna happen when we hit the water?"

"You're putting a hole in my boat!" Rio squeaked indignantly.

"I never said we were putting a hole in the ship!" Tell protested. "We just have to hit the bottom of the ship hard enough to send it flying... without... damaging it..."

He then realised the flaw in his plan.

"Aw crap." He sighed.

"Oh, that's easy enough!" Rio grinned.

"You don't have to be sarcastic." Tell growled.

"I'm not being sarcastic." Rio cracked his knuckles. "Just stand back and watch!"

He raised both of his hands and formed a triangle with his fingers and thumb.

"**Shipwright Commando: Ripple Fist!"**

He slammed his hands into the ship's deck, creating a ripple of power which ran through the ship. There was a horrific creaking sound as the ripple passed through every spot on the ship, before finally slamming into the jelly below. The jelly wobbled for a few seconds, before bouncing back and sending _The Sleeping Star_ flying into the air.

"Whooo!" Ushio grinned, clinging onto the mast. "This is awesome!"

"Next time, could you warn us before you do that!" Tell yelled, but he couldn't keep a slight smile out of his face.

"Yeah, yeah." Rio nodded, clinging to the ship's railing. He suddenly spotted something below, in the harbour. "Hey another ship is moving! And it's one of mine!"

"That's the biggest thing you care about at the moment?!"

The crew of this ship in question, the _Crimson Kite,_ had gotten out the oars and were slowly, but surely, making their way towards the harbour exit.

"It is one of mine!" Rio grinned, incredibly proud. "Just look at the smooth curvature of the hull! No wonder it's moving so easily across the jelly! I swear, it took me hours to get that thing just right, but it really makes the difference. You just have to-"

A cannonball struck the hull of the _Crimson Kite_, reducing it to splinters.

Rio just froze in place, the smile never leaving his lips. Below, the pirate crews had begun firing on each other again and, as the ship closest to the exit, the _Crimson Kite_ was taking most of the damage. Slowly but surely, she was being taken to pieces, right before Rio's eyes. Another of Rio's ships, the _Flaming Canal, _suddenly exploded in a burst of hot flame. Apparently one of the crew had accidentally set off the gunpowder supply. The flaming embers drifted across the harbour and lit several other ships on fire, including a third ship of Rio's, the _Mad Baboon._ Its crew attempted to put the fire out, but it spread to the sail and they eventually just gave up, abandoning ship and leaving Rio to watch another of his prized boats burn...

"What's wrong?" Ushio carefully moved over to where Rio was, to see what the problem was. He looked down at the carnage below. "Oh, they're at it again, huh? Glad we got out in time. Isn't that right Rio... Rio?"

Rio's face had gone pale and his lips were quivering slightly. His knuckles were bone white from grabbing the railing so tightly.

"Wha...?" He could barely get enough moisture in his mouth to form a sentence. "Wha... What the hell is this?!"

* * *

Back at his shipyard, Donovan sat alone, watching a old clock. In his hand was a small, sloppily made model of a ship.

"You dumb boy." He sighed, tears welling up in his eyes. "You dumb dumb boy..."


	19. Arc 3 Part 2: Rio's Past

_**Prepare for backstory! Originally, this chapter didn't actually exist. The plan was for the bit at the end to be part of Chapter 17 and for there to be a series of flashbacks throughout the next chapter. Then I realised I'd accidentally written an entire chapter's worth of flashbacks and decided to do an backstory chapter instead.**_

_**Weirdly, I've just realised that Rio, so far, is the only crew member whose backstory has actually been revealed... **_

* * *

_**Chapter 18: Rio's Past! The Journey of a Shipwright!**_

"_Gramps!" A 4-year old Rio toddled up to Donovan holding something. "I made this! I made this!"_

_It was a small model ship, sloppily built with bits of wood sticking out of random place. Donovan took it from the toddler and looked at it for a moment._

"_It's awful." He decided. "The hull's in poor shape and the sails are on backwards. Try again. And don't call me Gramps."_

"_WAAAAAAAAHHHH!" _

* * *

_The next night, Donovan could hear the sound of tools from his own private workshop. He opened the door to see Rio, tears still in his eyes, hammering away at another model._

"_What are you doing?" Donovan asked._

_Rio looked like a child whose hand had been caught in a cookie jar._

"_I-I-!" He tried to come up with an excuse._

"_If you hammer the nail at that angle, it'll just end up bent." Donovan took the young boy's hands in his and demonstrated for him. "You need to hammer it more like this."_

_Donovan looked down to see Rio looking at his work in awe._

"_If you want, I can take you down to the shipyard tomorrow, so you can see real shipwrights at work." Donovan offered._

"_R-Really!" Rio's face lit up with sheer joy. "I want to see! I want to see the ships!"_

* * *

"_Hey Boss." Donovan's second-in-command, Jacobs greeted his boss. "We've got an issue with our supply of boat varnish. The Fortuna family is skimping out on us again, surprise surprise. Anyway, we need you to-"_

_He suddenly noticed the small child nervously hiding behind Donovan's leg._

"_Uh... Boss...?" Jacobs was pretty surprised. "There seems to be a toddler attached to your leg. He must've wandered in off the street. I'll take him back and-"_

"_Actually..." Donovan avoided eye contact. "He's my son. Well... adopted son."_

_Jacobs couldn't have have been more surprised if Donovan had just told him that he was an alien werewolf from the planet Vulcan. He would've been much more likely to believe that story._

"_You... Son... What...?!" He stammered._

"_Right, glad you've volunteered to look after him." Donovan scooped up the toddler and plonked him in Jacobs's arms. "If anyone asks, he's your son. I don't know him. I'll come collect him when no-one else is watching."_

"_Right boss." Jacobs nodded. "Your secret is safe with me."_

* * *

_Naturally, by the end of the day, the entire company knew._

* * *

"_It was so cool!" Rio garbled over his dinner. "There was this really cool, big ship and then we got to go aboard it and look at all the people working on the inside stuff and then we got to see them unfurling the sail and then Jacobs beat up some guy who didn't pay and then-!"_

"_So you had fun." Donovan summed up._

"_Yeah Yeah Yeah!" Rio nodded. "One day I'm gonna build my own boat and join your company, Gramps!"_

"_That'll be the day." Donovan sighed. "And don't call me Gramps!"_

"_I'll do it!" Rio sulked at Donovan's tone. "I'll be the greatest shipwright who ever lived!"_

* * *

"_Who was it who did this to you?" Donovan asked the 7-Year old Rio._

_Rio was currently sat on a work bench, his face badly bruised, trying to stop the tears flooding from his black eyes._

"_N-No one!" He tried to avoid sobbing._

"_It was those boys from town again, wasn't it?" Donovan sighed._

_Rio reluctantly nodded. "T-They said nasty things about y-y-you and your boats!"_

_Donovan sighed and grabbed Rio's arm. "Come with me."_

_He dragged the boy to a small room, inside his office. Inside were tons of training weights, sandbags and other things._

"_W-What is this place?" Rio asked._

"_This is my dojo." Donovan explained. "I'm going to teach you a secret fighting style that I learnt during my travels. It's called Shipwright Commando..."_

* * *

"_I don't see why I have to do all this training!" 9-Year old Rio yelled, currently lifting two large arm pumps. "Why can't you teach me something easier!"_

"_Shipwright Commando demands patience and strength." Donovan was currently in a meditative stance. "It's based off one of the the Six Powers, named Rankyaku. However, the difference is that Rankyaku is used by the legs, a predominantly stronger limb. We use our arms for greater control and accuracy."_

"_But why?!" Rio asked. "Why can't we do it the easy way?!"_

"_Let's compare it to something you enjoy." Donovan sighed. "Take ship-building, for example. If you cut corners and did everything the easy way, you wouldn't be able to build a good ship, no matter how skilled you are."_

"_Oh!" Rio nodded. "I get it!"_

* * *

"_What are you doing, Rio?" Donovan asked, sticking his head into Rio's room._

"_I'm working on my first real boat!" 10-Year old Rio grinned. "It's only a small rowboat but it's going really well! Could you take a look at it?"_

_Donovan took a quick examination of the small boat._

"_It'll float." Was his final verdict. "Barely. Of course, you could end up screwing up the last few steps..."_

"_Don't worry!" Rio grinned. "I'll make you proud, Gramps!"_

"_Don't call me Gramps!"_

* * *

"_You idiot!" Donovan punched Rio across the face. Hard. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"_

"_B-But those kids from town-" Rio whimpered._

"_I didn't teach you Shipwright Commando so you could chase them down and beat them up!" Donovan growled. "I taught it to you so that you could __**defend**__ yourself!"_

"_Why can't I go take my revenge!" Rio growled back._

"_Because that's not what Shipwright Commando is for!" Donovan snarled. "It's not for being a pathetic bully! It was created to help defend against any threats attacking your ship! Now you're going to stay home for the next week and don't even think about going out and attacking any more children!"_

_Rio wiped the blood away from his nose._

"_I don't care about what you have to say."_

* * *

"_We give up!" One of the kids sobbed. "Just don't hurt us anymore!"_

"_Hmph." Rio snorted, wiping the dust off his hands. "Amateurs."_

_With that, he happily headed home. But he was in for a dreadful shock. When he arrived home, the small boat he'd been working on had been smashed to pieces. It was unrepairable. Months and months of hard work had gone down the drain. In the middle of the room, Donovan sat quietly._

"_Wh... Why...?" Rio whimpered_

"_I guess you should've stayed home like I told you." He said. "Shipwright Commando won't help you fix this."_

"_GRAAAAAAHHH!"_

_Rio charged at Donovan, fists raised..._

* * *

_Donovan slammed the door shut and wiped a trickle of blood away from his eye. A couple of shipwrights who had heard the noise came to investigate._

"_A-Are you okay Boss?" One of them asked._

"_Nobody give Rio any sympathy." Donovan growled, ignoring them. "No matter how much he cries, this is a lesson he has to learn."_

* * *

_Inside, Rio lay limply in the ruins of his boat, badly beaten._

"_Why...?" He muttered, tears in his eyes. "Why Gramps...?"_

* * *

"_He's still not eating." Jacobs reported, a week after Donovan had smashed the boat. "He's just sitting in the dark, sobbing."_

"_Jacobs... Do you think I was too harsh on him?" Donovan asked._

"_A-Are you asking me a personal question?!" Jacobs stuttered, in shock._

"_Don't get a swelled head." Donovan growled._

"_Personally..." Jacobs thought a moment. "No. That was a lesson he badly needed to learn. He's just taken it worse than most. Perhaps he's formed a bit too much of an attachment to his ships."_

"_How do we get him out then?" Donovan asked._

"_Time, I guess." Jacobs shrugged. "By the way, I'm still really weirded out that you're asking me this stuff..." _

* * *

_Donovan opened the door to Rio's room and strode in, without hesitating. Rio, horribly skinny from starvation, just glared at him with pure fury._

"_Here." Donovan tossed a slip at his feet._

_Rio just continued to glare at him._

"_Don't you want to know what it is?" Donovan asked._

_Silence._

"_Fine then." Donovan sighed, turning to leave. "It's typical. People come from all over the world to get a job at my shipyard but you won't accept an excellent job offer because of your own damn pride."_

"_Wha- What?!" It was like a switch had been flicked in Rio's brain and he looked up in wonder. "Are you serious?! A job! With you, Gramps!"_

"_Yep." Donovan smiled slightly. "Of course you'll need something to eat first. And you've been skimping on your training, so you'll need to catch up with that. And don't call me Gramps!"_

* * *

"_Okay, for your first day on the job, you'll merely be an assistant for these guys." Donovan pushed the nervous Rio closer to a group of shipwrights. "So try not to get in their way."_

"_Hey!" Jacobs waved. "I'm Jacobs. This is Rogg, Denn and Minz. Nice to meet you!"_

"_S-Same." Rio nodded. _

_Donovan, meanwhile, headed off for his usual work, with Jacobs accompanying him. Once they were sure he was gone, the remaining three shipwrights crowded around Rio._

"_So you're the Boss's son?!" Denn grinned. "What's he like at home!"_

"_Yeah!" Rogg nodded. "Is it true that he actually has... emotions?!"_

"_Hang on!" Minz scowled. "We've got to finish that work on the new boat before we get to small talk. Come on Rio, you can help us!"_

"_Okay!" Rio nodded_

* * *

"_Rio?" Donovan asked, placing his palm on the hull of their latest completed ship. "Who did the nailing on this side of the ship?"_

"_Oh!" Rio grinned, childishly. "That was me!"_

_Donovan smiled a rare smile and gave his apprentice a playful ruffle on the head._

"_It's outstanding." He smiled._

* * *

"_Rio?" A shipwright worker stuck his head through the door of the workshop. "We're locking up for the night."_

"_Go ahead." Rio was currently hammering away at something. "I need to get the rigging on this ship done first."_

"_Okay then." The worker shrugged and left._

_The next morning, Donovan was doing his usual pre-opening rounds when he tripped over e prone lump on the floor. _

_There was Rio, completely asleep from having worked all night on the ship._

* * *

_Rio stood before the grand ship. Every nail in place. Every bit of rigging neatly ordered. Completely perfect._

"_So you finally finished your first ship?" Donovan scratched his head. "I suppose it's passable."_

"_Gramps..." Rio's eyes were filling up with tears. "I'm... so... happy..."_

"_Don't call me Gramps!" Donovan gave his apprentice a sharp tap on the head, but he was smiling none the less._

_Then he walked up to it and placed his hand on the hull._

"_Now let's test it." He grinned. __**"Shipwright Commando: Ripple Fist!**__"_

_A ripple shot out of his hand and passed through the entire ship, causing a few loose parts to spring apart. However, the ship itself held together._

"_Excellent." Donovan patted the ship on its side. "Now we can sell that."_

"_Whoa!" Rio gasped. "What was that?!"_

"_The Ripple Fist." Donovan explained. "It's a surefire way of telling you whether the ship you've built is stable or not. And you can use it on people wearing armour."_

"_Can you teach me it?!" Rio asked. _

_Donovan raised his eyebrow._

"_Remember what happened last time I taught you something like that?"_

_Rio's face turned dark._

"_I'm... sorry." He scowled. "But I've learnt my lesson!"_

_Donovan looked at him for a few moments. Then he crouched down to Rio's level._

"_Rio." He placed his hands on Rio's shoulders. "I'll only teach you this technique if you promise only to use your Shipwright Commando to either defend yourself, or your ships."_

"_Okay." Rio nodded. "I promise."_

* * *

"_We've finally managed to finish the ship." Denn wiped his brow. "This one was a tricky one."_

"_Yup." Rogg nodded. "So what now?"_

"_We wait for the Boss to check it." Minz shrugged._

"_Um... Can I try something?" Rio asked._

"_Sure." Minz shrugged. "Just don't wreck the boat."_

"_Okay." Rio nodded._

_He walked up to the boat and placed his palm on the hull._

"_**Shipwright Commando..." **__He prepared himself. __**"Ripple Fist!"**_

_Nothing happened._

"_You didn't really think it'd be that easy, did you?" Donovan walked over. "You've still got a lot to learn..."_

* * *

_Days and weeks and months and years went by and Rio slowly improved his skills until..._

"_Hang on a second." Rio held his hand up to a bunch of customers, who had just bought his latest boat. "I need to test it."_

_He raised his hands and formed a triangle._

"_**Shipwright Commando: Ripple Fist!"**_

_A ripple shot through the boat, but not a single nail was knocked out of place._

"_Perfect!" Rio grinned. "Okay, you can take her out now!"_

"_Thanks!" The head sailor smiled. "I'm sure this baby will be perfect for the race!"_

"_Race?" Rio looked confused. "What race?"_

"_That new race that's started up recently." The sailor explained. "The Grand Dead End Competition! Ships from all over the world compete! It's quite a sight!"_

"_Ships from all over the world..." Rio gasped._

"_It's really amazing!" The rest of the sailors nodded. "We saw it last year and it blew us away!"_

"_Really...?"_

* * *

"_No, you can't go." Donovan sighed. "You've got too much work."_

"_But-"_

"_No." Donovan growled. "Maybe next year."_

"_Fine..." Rio grudgingly dragged himself out of Donovan's office. Donovan watched him go. Jacobs's voice swam around in his thoughts._

"...Perhaps he's formed a bit too much of an attachment to his ships..."

"_Damn." Donovan swore. "Damn..."_

* * *

_Meanwhile, outside, Rio let out a sigh of disappointment. Then he pulled himself together and looked up at the sky._

"_I'm sure I'll get to see it someday." He promised himself. "And I bet one of my ships will one day win it! One day..."_

* * *

"How is he?" Ushio asked.

The ship had landed safely in the waters outside the harbour, but Rio hadn't recovered from the view he got up there. He just sat there, eyes staring wildly at nothing in particular. The crew had tried to snap him out of it, but no matter what they did, he just continued staring into space, occasionally mumbling incomprehensibly to himself.

"I don't know." Yura shrugged. "He hasn't changed since we left the harbour. It'd probably be a good idea to find him a doctor."

"Oh, a doctor! Great!" Tell snarked. "Where exactly are we supposed to find one in the middle of the freaking ocean?!"

"Don't ask me!" Yura raised his hands in defence. "I'm just a navigator!"

"What a wimp." Tsurugi snarled. "Wimping out just because a couple of boats got smashed."

"Well, sorry we can't all be emotionless ice queens." Yura growled, in a rare show of anger. "I bet you've never lost anything close to you, have you?!"

"What did you say to me?" Tsurugi's face was a look of pure fury and she drew her sword. "I dare you to repeat that, you little coward!"

"Stop it, both of you." Ushio's voice cut through the tense atmosphere like a knife. "This isn't helping matters."

Yura and Tsurugi gave one last glare at each other, before sttling down.

"What do you think we should do, Ushio?" Tell asked.

"We're currently in the middle of a race." Ushio pointed out. "Currently, while Rio isn't getting much better, he isn't getting worse either. Time is going to be the deciding factor as to whether he recovers or not. So, unless it looks like his life may be in danger, we're gonna continue like we're gonna win that race! Got it?!"

The Neptune Pirates all nodded reluctantly in agreement.

"Okay then." Ushio pointed at Tell. "Unfurl the sails." He pointed at Tsurugi. "Take the helm." He pointed at Yura. "Plot us a course." He pointed to the girl who had just appeared on deck. "And you can watch Rio. Any problems?"

"Well, there is one small problem..." Tell chuckled. He pointed to the girl. "Who the hell is she?! And how did she get on the boat?!"

"Hmm?!" The girl yawned and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She had long, flowing, blond hair and simple grey eyes. She was dressed in some sort of white lab coat, with a black shirt and trousers underneath. She was also currently sitting in a barrel.

'The girl looked at the group of pirate, who were looking at her with a mixture of confusion and... more confusion.

"Er..." She rubbed her eyes again. "So... who are you guys?"

"That's our line!"

* * *

**Meanwhile: Back at Threshold Island**

"Well, the jelly has finally dissolved away and the race is finally underway!" The announcer shouted through his Den Den Mushi. "However, the Supernovas have had a huge lead and these crews will be hard pressed to catch u- Huh?!"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash, from where the barricade against the marines was.

Captain Isleague stepped gingerly over the wreckage of the barricade and approached a very familiar man...

"I'd just like to thank you again, for helping us out with this problem, Vice Admiral!" Isleague smiled.

"It's no problem." Vice Admiral Minos's face was completely emotionless. "Now where are these pirates you're talking about?"


	20. Arc 3 Part 2: The Accidental Stowaway

_**Yey! New Chapter! I've been kinda busy the last few days (so much so that I've had to dip into one of the chapters which I do in advance), but I figure I should try to keep up a regular schedule. But yeah, expect the schedule to kinda slow down over the next few weeks. I don't have as much time as I used to.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 20: Rio vs Yura! The Cloak Pirates Make Their Move!**_

"Listen, Rio..." Yura began backing away slowly. "You need to calm down a bit. Everything's oka-"

"**Shipwright Commando: Hammer Fist!"**

Rio stepped forward with blinding speed and punched Yura in the face, sending the boy slamming into the ground.

"Yura!" Tell leapt into action, swing his leg towards Rio's head. **"Black Leg-"**

Rio ducked under Tell's attack through pure instinct, before delivering a powerful hit to Tell's stomach. Tell coughed up a little blood and staggered backwards, before Rio delivered another punch to the side of his face, sending him flying and knocking out a couple of teeth in the process.

"Tsurugi, I'll go high, you go low!" Ushio ordered, forming a water hammer.

"Right!" Tsurugi drew her sword.

"If it's okay with you guys, I'm just gonna go hide somewhere..." Lucy began to sneak off to the cabins.

"**Neptune Hammer!" **Ushio's attack managed to glance off the side of Rio's head, but not enough to do any serious damage. While Rio was off balance, Tsurugi charged towards him, her sword at the ready.

"**Single Sword Style..." **She prepared to strike. **"Kite Ca- Huh?!"**

Before she could hit him, Ushio had leapt in front of her and trapped her sword under his feet.

"Don't use the sharp edge!" He growled. "We don't want to kill him!"

"Well, try telling him that!" Tsurugi pointed out.

Then they both noticed that Rio had taken on an odd stance. The same stance he had taken before he punched Sophia Violettes through _several_ walls.

"...Oh crap..."

"**Nail Gun Breaker!**" Rio sprung forward, shooting hundreds of fists towards Ushio and Tsurugi.

Before the two could be hit though, Yura leapt in front of them, taking most of the blows.

"It's me you're after..." He growled. "So it's me you're going to be fighting!"

* * *

"_What happened...?" _Gummy Cerish thought to himself as he slowly drifted back into consciousness. _"I remember spying on that clown guy when-"_

He suddenly realised where he was.

"Grrmph!" He tried to break free, but his ropes wouldn't budge.

"Hey hey hey! He's awake!" Arlecchi grinned. "Comfortable, kiddy? You know, it's not polite to spy on people! It's a good thing my little friends happened to spot you!"

Cerish was vaguely aware of something small crawling on his face. Meanwhile, the black mould near Arlecchi's gills seemed to be moving...

"Arlecchi, back off." Kuurant ordered. "I want to have a little chat with our stowaway. Ungag him too."

"Geez, fine..." Arlecchi snatched the gag out of Cerish's mouth and jumped out of sight.

"Hello brat." Kuurant leaned down and snarled in Cerish's face.

"Hello freak." Cerish replied, in a remarkably calm tone. "Neat gathering you've got here."

"Oh you have no idea." Kuurant chuckled. "No idea at all..."

"Okay then." Cerish shrugged. "So was there a reason you ungagged me, or are you just going to be cryptically evil all day?"

"Oh, there's a reason." Kuurant smiled. "A very impo-"

"Please don't tell me it's so you can 'hear my screams of terror'." Cerish sighed. "Because that's really cliché. And stupid as he-"

Kuurant punched him in the face.

"I don't remember saying you could talk!" He snarled.

"Violence, eh?" Cerish spat out a dislodged tooth. "That's original."

"Do you have any idea why we've kept you alive?" Kuurant smiled.

"So I can teach you the recipe for creating perfect cupcakes?" Cerish suggested.

"Not quite."

Suddenly, something brushed against the side of Cerish's face. He tried to turn to look, but found he couldn't move his head. The side of his face felt unbearably hot and sweaty, and it was spreading. Cerish tried to talk, but his throat closed up and he could only gag slightly as his mouth hung limply open. While he was gagging, someone stuck something into his mouth and collected a bit of his saliva. Then, the pain was gone and he could breath again. However, his face was still paralysed.

Kuurant knelt down and looked him right in the eyes.

"You're going to be our little lab rat." He grinned, before shoving the gag back into Cerish's mouth and walking off, laughing maniacally.

Had Cerish not been completely paralysed, he would've smirked.

"_Experiment, hmm?"_ He thought to himself. _"That sounds like it might be fun. But first things first..."_

The tooth that Kuurant had punched out slowly turned a light-pinkish colour and began to melt...

* * *

"**Shipwright Commando: Hammer Driver!"** Rio bombarded Yura with a series of powerful punches, sending hims skidding across the deck. Incredibly, Yura managed to get back to his feet, brushing dust off his clothes, casually.

"Keep them coming!" He grinned. "I can do this all day!"

Meanwhile, Ushio, Tsurugi, Tell and Lucy all watched from the sidelines.

"Who would've thought that _Yura_ would do the best against Rio." Tell winced suddenly. "Hey, watch what you're doing!"

"Hey, I'm the doctor here!" Lucy growled. "You should just be glad that a cute girl is bandaging your chest, you pervert!"

"I'm not a pervert!"

"Are you sure we should just leave the two of them?" Tsurugi looked at the two brawlers nervously.

"Yeah, it'll be fine." Ushio shrugged, although he seemed pretty tense. "Yura said that he could handle it on his own."

"But... it's Yura!" Tsurugi pointed out.

"True." Ushio admitted. "But his plan is working. Rio's slowing down."

"But... it's Yura..."

* * *

"**Shipwright Commando: Aerial Hammer Bombardment!"**

Rio tossed Yura into the air and fired a series of punches into his stomach, before following up with a powerful uppercut. Yura was knocked to the ground but, again, he got back to his feet.

"That's not going to help you, Rio." He said in a surprisingly calm tone. "Now, try and calm down..."

"Graaaaahhh!" Rio screamed, smashing him to the floor with a sharp punch to the jaw. Again, Yura got to his feet.

"We're your friends..." Yura tried to assure Rio.

Rio grabbed Yura's collar and sent him flying across the ship.

"We're going to help you get through this..." Yura got to his feet again, but he was starting to struggle. Despite his Devil Fruit, Rio's attacks were taking their toll. "So if you'll just-"

Rio leapt forward and grabbed Yura by the legs. Then, he lifted the young boy into the air and began slamming him into the ground again and again and again...

"Why! Why! Why!" Rio screamed with every blow, tears in his eyes. "Why did they have to destroy them all!"

Thoroughly disorientated from the blows, Yura could barely see the small cracks slowly appearing on the deck of the ship.

"_Damn!"_ Yura thought to himself. _"I have to stop him before he destroys his own ship!"_

He curled into a ball as the blows continued. Then, as Rio raised him into the air for another attack, he grabbed one of Rio's arms and bit down hard. Rio screamed in pain but, instead of letting go, he tossed Yura into the air and formed a triangle shape with his arms.

"I'll... I'll kill anyone who attacks my ships!" He screamed.

"Oh crap!" Ushio moved to intercept, but it was obvious he was too late.

"**Shipwright Commando: Ripple Fist!"**

* * *

**Several Minutes Earlier**

"_Ushio, Tsurugi, I want you to do me a favour." Yura panted, having taken the brunt of Rio's Nail Gun Breaker attack. "I want you to let me handle this."_

"_Are you insane!" Tsurugi yelled. "He'll floor you in no time at all!"_

"_Don't worry!" Yura grinned. "My Devil Fruit will stop him from hurting me!"_

"_... You have a Devil fruit?"_

"_Are you sure about this, Yura?" Ushio asked._

"_Yep." Yura nodded._

"_What if he knocks you overboard?"_

…

"_Okay, you can intervene then!" Yura decided. "And if he gets his hands on a pointy object. Or if I call for help."_

"_How brave of you..." Tsurugi muttered sarcastically._

"_Why do you want to do this alone, Yura?" Ushio asked._

"_I'm... not sure." Yura admitted. "Even with my Devil Fruit, that guy terrifies me. But if we fight him using normal means, I'm afraid that the ship will get damaged, which'll just make Rio sadder. I really like being with you guys and I don't want to lose any of you."_

"_Yura..." Tsurugi looked surprised._

"_You're sure then?" Ushio smiled._

"_Uh-huh!" Yura nodded with a grin. "Relax! I'll be just fine!"_

* * *

The ripple shot through Yura's body, bypassing his Devil Fruit powers and damaging his insides. He coughed up a large chunk of blood and limply collapsed to the ground.

"Yura!" Ushio yelled, forming a water hammer. **"Neptune Hammer!"**

He batted Rio away before he could deal another blow to Yura.

"Tell! Tsurugi! Help me distract him!" Ushio ordered. "Lucy! Look after Yura!"

"R-Right!" Lucy momentarily considered reminding Ushio that her name was Dr Luciana, but thought better of it. She grabbed Yura and dragged him over to the ship's mast.

Meanwhile, Tell and Tsurugi leapt at Rio and began cautiously trying to ward him off. Tell pounded him with his Black Leg style, not letting him get an attack in edgeways, and Tsurugi managed to get in some decent hits with her sheathed sword.

"How is he?" Ushio asked Lucy, who was beginning to examine Yura.

"Not good." Lucy gritted her teeth. "He's taken serious internal damage. It's not life-threatening at the moment, but- Hey!"  
To her surprise, Yura was attempting to get to his feet.

"You need to stay down." Ushio ordered. "You're badly hurt."

"I... have to... stop him..." Yura winced."Can't let him... hurt... the ship..."

"You've done enough." Ushio laid a hand on his chest. "We can take it from here. We're all part of the same crew, after all."

Suddenly, there was a large cracking sound and Tell fell backwards. Rio had managed to punch him hard in the face, breaking his nose and shattering his sunglasses. As Tell laid on the floor, clutching his face in pain, Rio managed to knock Tsurugi to the side and began heading towards Yura.

"...You...!" He growled.

"Stay back, Yura!" Ushio created another water hammer.

Rio stopped for a second. Then, he stepped back in an odd pose.

"Uh... isn't that the pose for that 'Nail Gun Breaker' move?!" Lucy realised. "Should I move?!"

"_If he uses that now..." _Yura realised. _"He'll destroy the ship's mast! Then he'll never recover! I have to stop him!"_

Yura had no idea what came over him at that moment. All he knew was that he somehow heaved himself to his feet, charged towards Rio and, just as Rio started punching, at lightning speed, grabbed both of his fists, immobilising them both with his strength. His reversal powers had just activated.

"Wha... What the...?!" Rio tried to break free, but he could barely move his arms out of Yura's grip.

"Yura?!" Ushio gasped.

"Rio." Yura voice was perfectly calm. "Snap out of it. We're more than just your friends. We're your crew. And we need you. So..."

He moved his head back and let out a terrifying war scream.

"_**SNAP OUT OF IT!"**_

With that, he headbutted Rio in the face. Hard.

* * *

"Master Kuurant." Diabla towered over his Captain. "Is it really necessary to keep that filthy human alive? I know the project demands a test subject but-"

"I somewhat agree." Couralle nodded. "I know Lord Arlong requested we test it on a Devil Fruit user, as well as a regular human, but I have a feeling that that boy won't stay put long enough for us to even inject him, never mind to see the results."

"Which is why I have Arlecchi keeping a 24 hour watch." Kuurant pointed out. "Besides, have you forgotten how badly our organisation needs the funds? Why do you think we entered this contest to begin with? Cerish's bounty will go a long way towards our rebellion."

"Cerish's bounty is for alive _or_ dead." Couralle retorted.

"Then you can kill him once the experiment is complete." Kuurant scowled. "Now, we currently have more important matters to attend to. Are you ready to go Swapier?"

"Yes Master!" Swapier grinned, leaping onto the railing and beginning to stretch. "I assume my target is the Jelly Pirates?"

"Them." Kuurant nodded. "And then everyone else. Leave no survivors."

With that, Swapier dived into the icy water to begin his scourge...


	21. Arc 3 Part 2: Rio vs Yura!

_**Yey! New Chapter! I've been kinda busy the last few days (so much so that I've had to dip into one of the chapters which I do in advance), but I figure I should try to keep up a regular schedule. But yeah, expect the schedule to kinda slow down over the next few weeks. I don't have as much time as I used to.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 20: Rio vs Yura! The Cloak Pirates Make Their Move!**_

"Listen, Rio..." Yura began backing away slowly. "You need to calm down a bit. Everything's oka-"

"**Shipwright Commando: Hammer Fist!"**

Rio stepped forward with blinding speed and punched Yura in the face, sending the boy slamming into the ground.

"Yura!" Tell leapt into action, swing his leg towards Rio's head. **"Black Leg-"**

Rio ducked under Tell's attack through pure instinct, before delivering a powerful hit to Tell's stomach. Tell coughed up a little blood and staggered backwards, before Rio delivered another punch to the side of his face, sending him flying and knocking out a couple of teeth in the process.

"Tsurugi, I'll go high, you go low!" Ushio ordered, forming a water hammer.

"Right!" Tsurugi drew her sword.

"If it's okay with you guys, I'm just gonna go hide somewhere..." Lucy began to sneak off to the cabins.

"**Neptune Hammer!" **Ushio's attack managed to glance off the side of Rio's head, but not enough to do any serious damage. While Rio was off balance, Tsurugi charged towards him, her sword at the ready.

"**Single Sword Style..." **She prepared to strike. **"Kite Ca- Huh?!"**

Before she could hit him, Ushio had leapt in front of her and trapped her sword under his feet.

"Don't use the sharp edge!" He growled. "We don't want to kill him!"

"Well, try telling him that!" Tsurugi pointed out.

Then they both noticed that Rio had taken on an odd stance. The same stance he had taken before he punched Sophia Violettes through _several_ walls.

"...Oh crap..."

"**Nail Gun Breaker!**" Rio sprung forward, shooting hundreds of fists towards Ushio and Tsurugi.

Before the two could be hit though, Yura leapt in front of them, taking most of the blows.

"It's me you're after..." He growled. "So it's me you're going to be fighting!"

* * *

"_What happened...?" _Gummy Cerish thought to himself as he slowly drifted back into consciousness. _"I remember spying on that clown guy when-"_

He suddenly realised where he was.

"Grrmph!" He tried to break free, but his ropes wouldn't budge.

"Hey hey hey! He's awake!" Arlecchi grinned. "Comfortable, kiddy? You know, it's not polite to spy on people! It's a good thing my little friends happened to spot you!"

Cerish was vaguely aware of something small crawling on his face. Meanwhile, the black mould near Arlecchi's gills seemed to be moving...

"Arlecchi, back off." Kuurant ordered. "I want to have a little chat with our stowaway. Ungag him too."

"Geez, fine..." Arlecchi snatched the gag out of Cerish's mouth and jumped out of sight.

"Hello brat." Kuurant leaned down and snarled in Cerish's face.

"Hello freak." Cerish replied, in a remarkably calm tone. "Neat gathering you've got here."

"Oh you have no idea." Kuurant chuckled. "No idea at all..."

"Okay then." Cerish shrugged. "So was there a reason you ungagged me, or are you just going to be cryptically evil all day?"

"Oh, there's a reason." Kuurant smiled. "A very impo-"

"Please don't tell me it's so you can 'hear my screams of terror'." Cerish sighed. "Because that's really cliché. And stupid as he-"

Kuurant punched him in the face.

"I don't remember saying you could talk!" He snarled.

"Violence, eh?" Cerish spat out a dislodged tooth. "That's original."

"Do you have any idea why we've kept you alive?" Kuurant smiled.

"So I can teach you the recipe for creating perfect cupcakes?" Cerish suggested.

"Not quite."

Suddenly, something brushed against the side of Cerish's face. He tried to turn to look, but found he couldn't move his head. The side of his face felt unbearably hot and sweaty, and it was spreading. Cerish tried to talk, but his throat closed up and he could only gag slightly as his mouth hung limply open. While he was gagging, someone stuck something into his mouth and collected a bit of his saliva. Then, the pain was gone and he could breath again. However, his face was still paralysed.

Kuurant knelt down and looked him right in the eyes.

"You're going to be our little lab rat." He grinned, before shoving the gag back into Cerish's mouth and walking off, laughing maniacally.

Had Cerish not been completely paralysed, he would've smirked.

"_Experiment, hmm?"_ He thought to himself. _"That sounds like it might be fun. But first things first..."_

The tooth that Kuurant had punched out slowly turned a light-pinkish colour and began to melt...

* * *

"**Shipwright Commando: Hammer Driver!"** Rio bombarded Yura with a series of powerful punches, sending hims skidding across the deck. Incredibly, Yura managed to get back to his feet, brushing dust off his clothes, casually.

"Keep them coming!" He grinned. "I can do this all day!"

Meanwhile, Ushio, Tsurugi, Tell and Lucy all watched from the sidelines.

"Who would've thought that _Yura_ would do the best against Rio." Tell winced suddenly. "Hey, watch what you're doing!"

"Hey, I'm the doctor here!" Lucy growled. "You should just be glad that a cute girl is bandaging your chest, you pervert!"

"I'm not a pervert!"

"Are you sure we should just leave the two of them?" Tsurugi looked at the two brawlers nervously.

"Yeah, it'll be fine." Ushio shrugged, although he seemed pretty tense. "Yura said that he could handle it on his own."

"But... it's Yura!" Tsurugi pointed out.

"True." Ushio admitted. "But his plan is working. Rio's slowing down."

"But... it's Yura..."

* * *

"**Shipwright Commando: Aerial Hammer Bombardment!"**

Rio tossed Yura into the air and fired a series of punches into his stomach, before following up with a powerful uppercut. Yura was knocked to the ground but, again, he got back to his feet.

"That's not going to help you, Rio." He said in a surprisingly calm tone. "Now, try and calm down..."

"Graaaaahhh!" Rio screamed, smashing him to the floor with a sharp punch to the jaw. Again, Yura got to his feet.

"We're your friends..." Yura tried to assure Rio.

Rio grabbed Yura's collar and sent him flying across the ship.

"We're going to help you get through this..." Yura got to his feet again, but he was starting to struggle. Despite his Devil Fruit, Rio's attacks were taking their toll. "So if you'll just-"

Rio leapt forward and grabbed Yura by the legs. Then, he lifted the young boy into the air and began slamming him into the ground again and again and again...

"Why! Why! Why!" Rio screamed with every blow, tears in his eyes. "Why did they have to destroy them all!"

Thoroughly disorientated from the blows, Yura could barely see the small cracks slowly appearing on the deck of the ship.

"_Damn!"_ Yura thought to himself. _"I have to stop him before he destroys his own ship!"_

He curled into a ball as the blows continued. Then, as Rio raised him into the air for another attack, he grabbed one of Rio's arms and bit down hard. Rio screamed in pain but, instead of letting go, he tossed Yura into the air and formed a triangle shape with his arms.

"I'll... I'll kill anyone who attacks my ships!" He screamed.

"Oh crap!" Ushio moved to intercept, but it was obvious he was too late.

"**Shipwright Commando: Ripple Fist!"**

* * *

**Several Minutes Earlier**

"_Ushio, Tsurugi, I want you to do me a favour." Yura panted, having taken the brunt of Rio's Nail Gun Breaker attack. "I want you to let me handle this."_

"_Are you insane!" Tsurugi yelled. "He'll floor you in no time at all!"_

"_Don't worry!" Yura grinned. "My Devil Fruit will stop him from hurting me!"_

"_... You have a Devil fruit?"_

"_Are you sure about this, Yura?" Ushio asked._

"_Yep." Yura nodded._

"_What if he knocks you overboard?"_

…

"_Okay, you can intervene then!" Yura decided. "And if he gets his hands on a pointy object. Or if I call for help."_

"_How brave of you..." Tsurugi muttered sarcastically._

"_Why do you want to do this alone, Yura?" Ushio asked._

"_I'm... not sure." Yura admitted. "Even with my Devil Fruit, that guy terrifies me. But if we fight him using normal means, I'm afraid that the ship will get damaged, which'll just make Rio sadder. I really like being with you guys and I don't want to lose any of you."_

"_Yura..." Tsurugi looked surprised._

"_You're sure then?" Ushio smiled._

"_Uh-huh!" Yura nodded with a grin. "Relax! I'll be just fine!"_

* * *

The ripple shot through Yura's body, bypassing his Devil Fruit powers and damaging his insides. He coughed up a large chunk of blood and limply collapsed to the ground.

"Yura!" Ushio yelled, forming a water hammer. **"Neptune Hammer!"**

He batted Rio away before he could deal another blow to Yura.

"Tell! Tsurugi! Help me distract him!" Ushio ordered. "Lucy! Look after Yura!"

"R-Right!" Lucy momentarily considered reminding Ushio that her name was Dr Luciana, but thought better of it. She grabbed Yura and dragged him over to the ship's mast.

Meanwhile, Tell and Tsurugi leapt at Rio and began cautiously trying to ward him off. Tell pounded him with his Black Leg style, not letting him get an attack in edgeways, and Tsurugi managed to get in some decent hits with her sheathed sword.

"How is he?" Ushio asked Lucy, who was beginning to examine Yura.

"Not good." Lucy gritted her teeth. "He's taken serious internal damage. It's not life-threatening at the moment, but- Hey!"  
To her surprise, Yura was attempting to get to his feet.

"You need to stay down." Ushio ordered. "You're badly hurt."

"I... have to... stop him..." Yura winced."Can't let him... hurt... the ship..."

"You've done enough." Ushio laid a hand on his chest. "We can take it from here. We're all part of the same crew, after all."

Suddenly, there was a large cracking sound and Tell fell backwards. Rio had managed to punch him hard in the face, breaking his nose and shattering his sunglasses. As Tell laid on the floor, clutching his face in pain, Rio managed to knock Tsurugi to the side and began heading towards Yura.

"...You...!" He growled.

"Stay back, Yura!" Ushio created another water hammer.

Rio stopped for a second. Then, he stepped back in an odd pose.

"Uh... isn't that the pose for that 'Nail Gun Breaker' move?!" Lucy realised. "Should I move?!"

"_If he uses that now..." _Yura realised. _"He'll destroy the ship's mast! Then he'll never recover! I have to stop him!"_

Yura had no idea what came over him at that moment. All he knew was that he somehow heaved himself to his feet, charged towards Rio and, just as Rio started punching, at lightning speed, grabbed both of his fists, immobilising them both with his strength. His reversal powers had just activated.

"Wha... What the...?!" Rio tried to break free, but he could barely move his arms out of Yura's grip.

"Yura?!" Ushio gasped.

"Rio." Yura voice was perfectly calm. "Snap out of it. We're more than just your friends. We're your crew. And we need you. So..."

He moved his head back and let out a terrifying war scream.

"_**SNAP OUT OF IT!"**_

With that, he headbutted Rio in the face. Hard.

* * *

"Master Kuurant." Diabla towered over his Captain. "Is it really necessary to keep that filthy human alive? I know the project demands a test subject but-"

"I somewhat agree." Couralle nodded. "I know Lord Arlong requested we test it on a Devil Fruit user, as well as a regular human, but I have a feeling that that boy won't stay put long enough for us to even inject him, never mind to see the results."

"Which is why I have Arlecchi keeping a 24 hour watch." Kuurant pointed out. "Besides, have you forgotten how badly our organisation needs the funds? Why do you think we entered this contest to begin with? Cerish's bounty will go a long way towards our rebellion."

"Cerish's bounty is for alive _or_ dead." Couralle retorted.

"Then you can kill him once the experiment is complete." Kuurant scowled. "Now, we currently have more important matters to attend to. Are you ready to go Swapier?"

"Yes Master!" Swapier grinned, leaping onto the railing and beginning to stretch. "I assume my target is the Jelly Pirates?"

"Them." Kuurant nodded. "And then everyone else. Leave no survivors."

With that, Swapier dived into the icy water to begin his scourge...


	22. Arc 3 Part 2: The Magic Sniper Attacks!

_**Yey, new chapter! Unfortunately, it's only the one new chap, despite there appearing to be two. I decided to take Kaizen Kitty's advice (very much appreciated, BTW) and make the first chapter a lot easier to read, instead of creating a huge block of text. Admittedly, I've kinda subverted some of her advice by creating an actual prologue, but it looks a lot nicer.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 21: Swapier's Rampage! The Shortcut in the Calm Line?!**_

"Jehahaha!" Jells laughed as his ship sailed across the ocean. "This race is in the bag, me lads!"

"Captain!" One of his crewmates reported. "The Cloak Pirates are catching up with us!"

"Hmmm?" Jells took a look through his scope. "So they are! Prepare another Jelly Ball! That'll slow 'em down!"

"Aye aye!" His crew saluted, carrying another Jelly Ball to the cannon.

"Prepare to fi- Waaah!" Suddenly, the boat shook violently, sending the crew stumbling across the deck. One unlucky pirate tripped over the railing and was sent plummeting into the ocean.

"What the hell was that?!" Jells swore.

"Captain! We're taking on water!" A crewman yelled. "What should we d-?!"

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!"

A sudden, ear-piercing scream shot through the air. Jells looked over the railing to see that the pirate who fell overboard had just vanished, leaving a patch of murky red water where he once was...

"Holy..." Jells froze before he realised what was going on. "We're under attack! It's under the wate-!"

Another crash and Jells was sent flying, barely managing to grab onto a railing before he fell into the water. The ship was toppling onto its side, the hull practically destroyed by a series of slashes. The Jelly Pirates toppled, screaming into the water where, one by one, they were dragged under the waves by something, leaving only a trail of blood.

Jells could feel his grip slowly slipping on the railing. He could hear the screams of his crew as they died beneath him. His hand slipped and he slowly plummeted towards the sea...

Swapier skewered him before he even touched the water.

* * *

"Head starboard." Yura ordered. "We should be able to catch a decent breeze, to give us a boost.

"Right." Tsurugi carefully turned the helm and the ship slowly turned to where Yura was pointing.

After the crew had dragged the unconscious Rio to the ship's brig, for him to cool down in, Yura had insisted on helping navigate the ship towards Reversal Mountain, despite his injuries. He was currently lying on the deck, a small telescope in his hands, while Lucy attended to his wounds and assessed the damage Rio's Ripple Fist had caused. Thanks to his aid, the ship had been making amazing progress.

"Are you sure you should be working?" Ushio questioned.

"I'll be fine." Yura grinned weakly. "The damage isn't that b- *cough* *cough*"

Yura chose that time to cough up some droplets of blood into his hand.

"Well, that wasn't the best timing." Ushio sighed.

"Uurgh... blood..." Ushio turned green.

"Well, my examination is complete." Lucy smiled. "And you're going to die."

"What?!"

"Well, not now." She scoffed. "I was just pointing out that you'd die someday, to lessen the pain."

"How is terrifying me lessening the pain?!"

"So what's the real diagnosis?" Ushio asked.

"He'll be fine." Lucy gave Yura a pat on the head. "The damage wasn't serious. Give him a couple of days and some good bed rest and he'll be fine."

"Phew." Yura sighed. "That was kinda worrying! Ahahaha!"

"By the way..." Something crossed Lucy's mind. "What's with those weird tattoos on your back?"

"Tattoos?" Yura looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah, I was kinda wondering about those myself." Ushio nodded, looking at Yura's back. "I've never seen a language like that before. Did you do them yourself?"

"What are you guys talking about?!" Yura asked, looking slightly worried. "I don't have any tattoos!"

"Sure you do!" Lucy fished a compact mirror out of her bag and held it over Yura's shoulder so he could take a look. "These ones!"

There were a series of black symbols scrawled on Yura's back. The language seemed to be one of weird random scribbles, rather child-like in its appearance. However, they seemed to emit a hateful aura, despite their childishness. Yura took one look at them and froze.

"O-Oh yeah!" He laughed nervously, turning pale. "I-I got those ages ago. They're r-really neat!"

He suddenly began coughing violently and Lucy escorted him to his room for some rest.

"Wonder what all that was about." Lucy muttered.

"Heck if I know." Ushio shrugged. "First Rio, then Tell and now Yura. Why must all my crew go insane?"

"Perhaps they're taking cues from their captain." Tsurugi suggested sarcastically.

"True..." Ushio nodded, deep in thought. "Well, at least I've still got you two on my crew! You won't go mental will you?!"

"Technically, I'm only a temporary member." Tsurugi pointed out.

"And I'm not even in your crew." Lucy also pointed out. "I'm just hitching a ride to the next island."

"Huh." Ushio stood there awkwardly. "Well, that's depressing."

"Still, that thing with Tell was kinda weird." Tsurugi scratched her chin. "I wonder why he acted like that."

* * *

_**Several Minutes Earlier**_

_The entire crew stood shocked as Rio's unconscious body dropped to the floor. Yura stood there for couple of seconds, swaying slightly, before he too began to drop. Luckily, Ushio managed to catch him in time._

"_Good job, Yura!" He grinned, laying him to rest gently on the deck. "Okay, Tsurugi, take Rio to the brig and lock him in there until he calms down! Lucy, take a look at Yura's wounds. And Tell..."_

_He looked over to his first mate, who was still lying on the ground, clutching his face in pain._

"_Are you okay?" He walked over cautiously._

"_**Don't look at me!" **__Tell screamed, his voice a mixture of pain and... terror? __**"Don't look at me!"**_

_With that, he shoved Ushio out of the way and dashed, panicked, into his cabin, hands covering his face._

"_What the hell...?" Ushio scratched his head. Then he heard something crack beneath his feet._

_He lifted his boot to find a small shard of cracked, black glass underneath it. A piece of Tell's broken sunglasses..._

* * *

"Yeah. Weird." Lucy nodded. "Maybe he's really obsessive about his appearance. Like the womanising, stalking, kidnapping, crossdressing, womanising, sexually assaulting, perverse, bisexual, womanising rapist he is."

Ushio and Tsurugi stared at her curiously.

"Okay..." Lucy admitted. "Maybe I took that a bit far..."

"You think?"

"Guys! Guys!" Yura burst out of his cabin holding a map. "I've just had a great idea!"

"Yura, you should be resting." Lucy gave a disapproving look. "We're on course and-"

"No! No wait!" Yura placed the map on the ground. "I found this copy of The Tangerine World Charts on board and was looking through them when I spotted this!"

He pointed to a spot on the map.

"So what is it?" Ushio peered over his shoulder.

"It's an ocean current." Yura announced smugly. "A powerful one. Leading all the way to Reverse Mountain."

"So... you're saying we should catch it?" Ushio grinned. "A quick route to the finish? I like that plan!"

"Um..." Tsurugi suddenly realised something. "Hey, I'm no expert cartographer, but doesn't that current start in the Calm Line?"

"Yeah." Yura nodded. "So?"

"The Calm Line..." Lucy scratched her chin. "That sounds kinda familiar..."

"What's the Calm Line?" Ushio asked.

"You guys are kidding, right?" Tsurugi raised her eyebrows. "You don't know about the Calm Line? You know, how it's infested with Sea Kings?"

"S-S-Sea Kings!" Yura stuttered. "On second thoughts, it was a stupid plan anyway."

"Yura, you should know this about me." Ushio grinned. "I live for stupid plans! Now head towards the-"

"Nononono!" Tsurugi interrupted. "I don't care if you're the Captain, I'm not following a suicidal order like that! Don't change course, Yura!"

"Um... I already changed the course before I came to see you guys." Yura admitted. "We're heading straight for the Calm Line."

"Good job Yura!" Ushio grinned. "Now we can- Ummph!"

"How do we change our course back?!" Tsurugi growled, jamming her hand over Ushio's mouth.

"Oh, it's quite simple." Yura explained. "We just need to-"

Yura was suddenly interrupted by a bullet. Striking him in the head.

* * *

"Fire the Chilli Cannon!" Chiffy Shill ordered.

The large cannon fired off a powerful shot, with flames circling around it, but Krishin Limbosa's tower of limbs simply split in two, avoiding the powerful attack, before splitting back into one.

"Yoyoyoyoyoyo!" Krishin laughed. "You can't hit me like that! "I ate the Sprout-Sprout Fruit: Model Limbs! I can sprout as many limbs from my body as I want!"

"Shut up, jackass!" Shill snarled. "Nerras, how are those noodles doing?"

"Almost done!" Nerras was currently hefting what looked like a giant wok over one of the Chilli Cannons, which had been pointed upwards. "They just need a hint of rosemary and-"

"It'll have to do!" Shill drew his sword. "Send me up!"

Nerras shrugged and turned the wok onto its side, spilling noodles everywhere. Then, he drew his twin staffs and began gathering the noodles together.

"Okay!" He yelled. "Get on!"

Shill stepped onto Nerras's staffs and, suddenly, he shot into the air, propelled by a large line of noodles.

"**Ramen Kenpo Royale: Noodle Tower!"**

Soon Shill was level with Krishin's ship. He lifted his sword and grinned as red dust began to form around him.

"You think you're the only one with Devil Fruit powers?" Shill smiled. "I ate the Chilli Chilli fruit which lets me create my own 'special' brand of chilli powder from my body. It goes very well with noodles. Try a bit!"

With that, he lowered his sword and wrapped some of the noodles in it, before swinging it towards Krishin.

"**Red Sword Style: White Dragon!**

The noodles flew towards Krishin, taking the form of a small dragon as they went.

"**Whip Punch!"** Krishin raised his hand and another hand sprouted from his palm. And another. And another, until there was a large chain of hands shooting from his arm. It smashed into the noodle dragon, tearing it apart.

"Yoyoyoyo!" Krishin laughed. "How do you like that?! Now you shall be the one to dance the dance of humiliation!

"Bad move." Shill smirked.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, a huge red ball shot out of what remained of the dragon's mouth and hit the _Avocado Celebration _head on, scattering the red dust everywhere.

"Graaaghsh!" Krishin clutched at his face as the chilli stung his eyes and skin. "Thish is horriblish!"

"Captain!" Bonbon Ballade had fared slightly better. "Don't lose your concentration or-"

It was too late. Krishin had forgotten that he was the one keeping the ship in the air and one of his giant limbs had just hit a rock, tripping him. With a horrible creaking sound, the ship slowly began to topple, before smashing into the waters below.

Back on the _Puttin' Pepper_, Shill landed gracefully in a storm of noodles.

"Not bad Cap'n." Nerras began slurping down the noodles. "Do you reckon they'll survive?"

"Probably." Shill shrugged. "But I'm suitably satisfied. Now let's get back to the race. We've dropped quite a few places."

"Aye aye, Cap'n." Nerras gave a slight salute. "Want some noodles? They're extra spicy!"

* * *

The Dial Dial Fruit: Impact Model, which Yura had eaten, was generally hit-and-miss when it came to bullets. While it could hold off the usual round musket balls that most flintlocks fire, any sharper bullets were serious trouble. Luckily, through pure chance, the bullet that struck Yura had become flattened after it had been fired and failed to pierce the young boy's head.

It left a hell of a mark, though.

Yura's head snapped backwards and he was send toppling to the ground, unconscious. Ushio immediately grabbed him and dragged him behind some barrels, while Tsurugi and Lucy both dived for cover.

"What the hell was that?!" Lucy screamed.

"I don't know!" Ushio yelled. "Tsurugi! Can you see anyone?!"

"I can't see any boats!" Tsurugi reported, peeking over the railing. She ducked down when another bullet flew overhead, almost hitting her in the shoulder. "Dammit! How are they shooting this far?!"

* * *

From his small rowboat, Brurrage Seraphin took aim through the scope on his rifle and squeezed the trigger again, almost hitting Tsurugi's hand. He'd currently set up some sort of lengthy sniper rifle attachment to it which stretched across most of his boat.

"Sorry sweetheart." He muttered to no-one in particular. "But I've no intention of losing to you chumps."

* * *

"There! There!" Lucy yelled, pointing to a speck in the distance. "There's a ship there!"

"Where?!" Tsurugi squinted. "Oh I see it! But that's a tiny rowboat! He can't shoot this far!"

"Try telling him that!" Ushio scowled as another bullet whistled overhead. "Now how are we supposed to stop this guy?! We can't stop his bullets and we can't get close enough to attack him!"

"Leave that to me." Suddenly, the door to the cabins was kicked open and Tell walked out, a new pair of sunglasses over his eyes.

"Everybody close your eyes." He ordered, reaching for his new sunglasses. "I'm gonna use my secret weapon."


End file.
